There are questions that must never be answered
by Novrier
Summary: By most shinobi are viewed as tools. They must be properly maintained and used wisely to achive the best possible results. Some are of a better quality than others, but one thing about this particular tool, is that it can disobey an order.
1. Chapter 1

Word from the author:

I guess official part comes first. I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters.

As for the new story, thought I'd write a bit about it. My first story and it's sequel were something like an experiment for me. I made mistakes, some say I eventually improved. Basically that is the reason I decided to make a new story.

I decided to stick with the idea of adding my own OC, that part worked out for me last time. But this will be a totally new character, the story will have a new plot, not related to my old story in any way. I will try to make characters more balanced, watch grammar and such.

Hope you will enjoy and as always criticism is welcomed as long as it is constructive.

There are questions that must never be answered.

Chapter 1

This was not what Sakura expected from the chunin exams. Sure she considered that they would be hard, that she and her team might not make it to the end, but what was happening right now was beyond her worst fears, for she never thought she would have to face such mortal danger.

The forest of death was literal hell. Apart from dangerous animals, dangerous and poisonous plants, there were opposing ninja teams. Even at best possible odds, no more than half of the teams would make it to the end, the rules were made that way. Each team had a scroll, but two were required for the set that would grant entry to the tower in the centre of the forest. But it so happened that the scroll was the least of her worries now.

Her body was paralyzed by fear, she couldn't move, just stare at the grass kunoichi in front of them. And she didn't know what scared her more, the enemy ninja, or the fact that Sasuke was in the same state as her. To make matters worse Naruto disappeared.

Her mind was trying to find a way out, a way to make her body move, but fear held her in place like iron chains. She could barely force air into her lungs and images of her own brutal death were flashing before her eyes. She was never this scared before.

"Move!" Sasuke suddenly grabbed her, after throwing a bloodied kunai at the opposing ninja, who just tilted her head to the side, watching with a smirk how her prey disappeared for a moment.

"Very creative, Sasuke-kun. Replace fear with pain, very interesting strategy. Reckless, but effective." She smirked, somewhat impressed when Sasuke stabbed himself in the leg to snap himself out of the trance, to overcome fear. Pain was a primal feeling, sharp, powerful, just like fear and once could be used to forget about the other. It was in the blood of every human being, basic, almost animalistic and thus always present. Even the best ninjas could only suppress those feelings, never truly get rid of them.

"Huh?" the kunoichi looked to the side, but saw nothing. She just felt something, like a hunch, intuition, instinct. A ninja had to trust his intuition, but not rely on it completely. It could save life, but also make one paranoid, a careful balance was needed. But the kunoichi wasn't really worried. Right now there was nobody around to who would actually be able to oppose her.

...

"Sasuke, you are bleeding." Sakura who more or less regained her senses. Her teammate injured himself to help them get away. The wound wasn't all that serious, but it was necessary to stop the bleeding, or else it could end badly.

"Listen, Sakura, you need to get away."

"What?"

"Just listen. That ninja we faced, we are outmatched. I'll slow her down while you try to get away. Got it?"

"But I can't just leave you."

"Yes you can, I can't also worry about protecting you!"

"But, but ... " Sakura was shaking her head not wanting to accept the idea of running away and leaving Sasuke. But the raven haired boy pushed her away and moved forward, with his wound already showing a bloody stain through the simple bandage Sakura managed to apply.

"Just do as I say, Sakura, I don't want you to die." His tone held no warmth, it accepted not objection and with tears Sakura moved back, but couldn't force herself to run away, instead hiding to try and help, or at least see what would occur. She still couldn't regain her breath, but her fast irregular breathing all but stopped when she once more saw the grass kunoichi appear to face Sasuke who was standing on a thick tree branch.

"So, you actually decided to fight, huh?"

Sasuke once more felt how his body became unable to move. Her voice, her aura, her presence alone was so intimidating that it paralyzed him. The grass kunoichi looked at Sasuke for a bit, her face showing mild curiosity and then strangely disappointment. She pulled out a kunai, her long tongue appearing for a moment as she licked her lips as if anticipating tasting blood. She took a step forward, but then pulled her leg back when a shuriken struck just inches away from her big toe.

"Hm?" she looked to the side and saw a short blonde haired boy dressed in an orange jumpsuit of all things. His face had strange whisker like marks on his face and he was grinning, while his hands were crossed on his chest.

"Oh, it is you. I thought my snake disposed of you."

"So, you are the bastard who sent that thing! That blasted snake ate me!" Naruto yelled in outrage pointing at the grass kunoichi accusingly, but that only seemed to amuse her. If anyting Naruto served as some mild entertainment for her, though him escaping the summoned snake did give him some credit. Perhaps there was more to this runt than met the eye.

"Here, you want this, don't you? Just take it and leave us." Sasuke pulled out their scroll, trying to buy their way out of fighting a superior enemy.

"Ahh, offering the predator an alternative meal. That could be a wise strategy." The grass kunoichi licked her face again, stepping closer and reaching out for the scroll. But before she could grab it, an orange blur dashed between them.

"What the hell are you doing Sasuke?" Naruto held up the scroll before hiding it in his own pouch.

"What am I doing? I am trying to save our lives. What are you doing?"

"What? You think that weirdo will just walk away if you give her the scroll? Hell no! But what really creeps me out, is that you are scared, Sasuke. I can see that in your eyes. So now tell me, who the hell you are, because the Sasuke I know is not a coward."

"Stop speaking nonsense, Naruto. This is not some game!"

"God damn it isn't. Since when are you a coward, Sasuke?"

"A sad, but correct statement." The grass kunoichi said with a shrug. I would never walk away from a thrill of a hunt after all. I don't care about the scroll actually, so as surprising as it is, the blonde brat is right.

Sasuke found nothing to say to that. He just glared at the enemy ninja and at Naruto.

"Oh well, this is amusing, but lets end it." The grass kunoichi dashed forward towards Sasuke, but was intercepted by Naruto. With a single quick punch she sent the blonde flying away, but in mid air he turned into a puff of smoke.

"A shadow clone? How interesting." She turned to Naruto who was already flanked by two of his replicas that attack with kunai in hand, followed by three more clones Naruto created. It was very one sided though as it only took the grass kunoichi about ten seconds to dispose of the clones. She then jumped towards Naruto, who moved back avoiding a spin kick, but he never expected a long tongue to lash out, wrap around his torso and toss him into the tree trunk with enough force to crack it. To her surprise Naruto stood up.

"Oh, stubborn, aren't you." She pulled up her sleeve and bit her thumb, drawing blood. With a practiced motion she applied the blood to the tattoo on her arm and them slammed her palm against the tree branch. In an instant a giant snake appeared, supporting itself by wrapping most of the tail around the tree branch and the thick trunk of the tree.

"Wha ... !" Naruto barely managed to jump out of the way when the snake struck. But the long tail then slammed him in the chest, sending him flying into another tree with a great force.

"Now where were we." The kunoichi turned to Sasuke who still was unable to move and only watched Naruto's futile attempts to protect them. Now he could only watch as the giant snake lunged towards him, deadly fangs bared, a low hiss escaping it's mouth. But just as it was about to deliver the deadly strike an orange blur appeared once more, smashing into the snake's head with enough force to actually send it crashing into the trunk of the massive tree.

"Naruto?" Sakura gasped. Naruto looked almost feral when he struck the snake and the amount of power he mustered was unreal.

"How?" Sasuke shook his head in disbelief when he saw Naruto continue his wild, but still quite effective assault, each strike earning an angry pained hiss from the snake. The grass kunoichi atop of it for the first time looked really surprised. It didn't take long for her to regain focus and command the snake to move to the side. She knew what was the main weakness of the blonde kid and once more commanded the summon to attack Sasuke, who closed his eyes awaiting death.

"Aghh!" the branch shook from the impact, but the pain never came. Sasuke opened his eyes and saw Naruto in front of him, his small frame actually holding the massive snake head away.

"You look terrified, scaredy cat." Naruto mocked Sasuke in an all too familiar way, making Sasuke take a step back. But before he could reply a long tongue wrapped around Naruto, yanking him up.

"Lets see now. Ahh, of course." The grass kunoichi pulled Naruto closer and pulled up his shirt. With a cruel smirk she slammed five fingers into his stomach and Naruto screamed out in pain before passing out. She then reached into his pouch, but it was empty.

"Hmm, strange, but no matter. That is of no significance." After that she just tossed him away.

"No!" Sakura jumped out from her hiding spot. "Sasuke, snap out of it!

"Shut it Sakura!"

"I won't! Look what happened. Naruto protected us, you. He might be a pest for most of the time, he might not get things right and often make stupid mistakes. But one thing he is not, is a coward. Look at yourself right now!" Sakura couldn't force herlsef to watch Naruto fall down to the ground and thus never saw a white arrow fly through the air, pinning Naruto to the tree by his clothes moments before he hit the ground.

Surprisingly Sakura's words snapped something in Sasuke's mind. His own brother had accused him of fear, of being a coward. And to be prove him right, here, now, no, that was the worst thing that could happen. Even death was better than proving Itachi right. He couldn't be right, it was impossible.

Sasuke felt strange sensation, almost sharp burning in his eyes. He acted on pure reflex when the grass kunoichi dismissed her summon and jumped at him aiming a punch to his face. With a quick move he blocked the strike, dodged another one and then lashed out with his own, that for a moment startled his opponent. Sasuke used the moment to gain some space between him and his opponent.

"Yes, the blood of the Uchiha boils." The grass kunoichi smiled. Sasuke didn't pay any attention though, he instead threw several kunai at his opponent who dodged effortlessly, but Sasuke already jumped to the side, using chakra to stick to the tree trunk. He released another badge of kunai and then added several shuriken, all aimed at the vital areas of his foe. Despite his efforts the grass kunoichi still dodged without much effort. Her every move was like a mockery as she avoided attacks with ease, but arrogance was exactly what Sasuke was aiming for. He charged, aiming a jump kick for the head of his opponent, but she ducked and grabbed his leg, throwing Sasuke away. In mid air the Uchiha suddenly flipped throwing a large shuriken at his enemy, only it to miss once more.

"A string!" Sakura saw a thin barely visible string that was connected to the shuriken. With a quick motion Sasuke used it to send the shuriken flying back at the grass kunoichi who looked back in shock. For a second it seemed like she was struck. Sakura even stood up, hoping that perhaps Sasuke actually managed to injure their enemy, but her hopes were crushed when the grass kunoichi turned back to them, revealing that she had caught the shuriken in her mouth.

"Gotcha. Fire ball jutsu!" Sasuke flashed through seals and released a stream of fire that went along the metal string one end of which he still held in his mouth. The sudden fire attack had hit the grass kunoichi straight in the face. She stumbled back, her face unseen behind a large fireball. The flames died soon enough and for some time there was only silence.

"Heh, not bad, quite impressive, Sasuke-kun." The genin never expected the enemy to speak in a laughing tone. They expected her to scream from pain, fall off the tree branch, anything, but not this. When she looked up they saw something that shocked them even further. Her face, it looked like the skin was burned off, but underneath it, was another face, as if the person present was wearing some sort of a mask.

"Who are you?" Sasuke muttered.

"My name is Orochimaru and after that little demonstration you just gave me, I have made up my mind, it is you who I want."

"What is that supposed to mean."

"In due time, Sasuke-kun, all in due time. As for now ... " the neck of the strange shinobi that called himself Orochimaru extended and before Sasuke could even blink Orochimaru bit him in the neck.

"Sasuke!" Sakura could no longer stay hidden and jumped out from her hiding space, as Sasuke collapsed to his knees. "What did you do?" Sakura asked the mysterious ninja.

"I just left Sasuke a little parting gift. He will find good use for it. And then he will come to me, seeking power." Orochimaru began sinking into the surface of the tree as if it was water and then there was nothing. He left, just like that.

"Sasuke, what is wrong, where does it hurt?" Sakura looked over the boy who couldn't even speak as pain surged through his whole body. She saw the spot where Sasuke was bitten and wondered if he was poisoned when she noticed some strange mark forming on his shoulder. She had no idea what it was, but clearly it was connected with what happened to Sasuke. Before Sakura could do anything else, Sasuke collapsed, loosing consciousness, perhaps for the best as the pain was becoming unbearable.

"Sasuke, we need to get down." Sakura spoke, mostly to herself as she understood that the boy was unable to hear her or answer right now. She pulled his hand around her shoulder and pulled him up, frowning from his weight. After all she wasn't the most physically fit member of the team. Still she managed to get Sasuke down and lower him onto the soft grass, between the large roots of the tree. Hardly a safe spot, but it would have to do for now.

"Now for Naruto." Sakura stood up. She hoped that her teammate survived the fall after all Naruto proved incredibly hard to pin down, it is if his whole being refused to admit defeat and stay down.

...

Naruro just hung there, several meters above the ground, his sturdy jumpsuit pinned to the tree trunk by a long white arrow. He naturally was unable to witness what occurred once he was tossed away, but he was quite alive, if steady deep breaths were of any indication.

Once Orochimaru disappeared another figure appeared, carefully moving across the vertical surface of the tree trunk towards Naruto. It was someone dressed in a dark grey, loose fitting garb with a black belt around the waist. The face was hidden by a cloth mask, but dark brown hair still could be seen and if one would look closer he could see that the tips of several strands of hair were of a very strange white colour. The figure had a long curved bow strapped to his back, but strangely no quiver with arrows, though it seemed that the arrow that saved Naruto was made from the same material as the bow. What was strange was that he had no forehead protector or any other mark or symbol that would tell if he was from one of the ninja villages.

The figure carefully crawled over to Naruto, inspecting the boy from the distance at first. He then moved closer and grabbed Naruto's blonde hair, pulling the head up roughly to see the face. It was unclear what the strange ninja understood from watching him, but after some time he seemed to decide on something. Without a single word he pulled out the arrow, allowing Naruto to fall down, but didn't do anything else. He just watched the prone form of the genin before retreating, disappearing in the many shadows of the forest.

Soon Sakura appeared looking for Naruto and easily spotted the orange jumpsuit. She hurried over to her teammate and was relieved that he was alive. More than that, he didn't seem to have any serious injuries, which seemed impossible considering that he fell from incredible height and there was nothing here that would significantly soften the impact. Still he was breathing regularly, didn't cringe in pain or show any discomfort when she pulled him up. If anything, he looked asleep.

She had to admit that the way Naruto acted surprised her. He somehow was able to hold off that giant snake, showing power he never showed before. For a moment he scared her, she felt strange, unexplainable terror, similar to that she felt on the bridge back in the wave country. But he was protecting them, he was willing to risk his life to save them and he never even hesitated about that. Perhaps Naruto was a clumsy idiot, but he was a good friend.

…

Sakura found a secluded spot nearby. The roots of another giant of a tree created sort of a small cave between them. Such shelter was perhaps the best thing she could find on such short notice. It took her some time to get both Sasuke and Naruto there and then lay some traps for at least some measure of security. Naruto was simply asleep, but Sasuke quickly developed a serious fever. His face often revealed that he was in serious pain and Sakura was unable to do anything to help him, except putting wet cloth on his forehead and sitting next to him, hoping that he would somehow pull through.

With all those worries it was not surprising that she never noticed that their small shelter was carefully observed by someone carefully hiding in the branches of a nearby tree. The figure with the bow seemed to be waiting for something, patiently. He was the first to see the three sound genin appear, cutting off any retreat for the pink haired konoha nin and her injured teammates. Still he made no move to try and help her when she was forced to engage the new arrived enemies.

The strange ninja tilted his head slightly, somewhat surprised that the girl actually managed to pin down and injure one of the sound genin, despite not showing any kind of special ability. It was actually more attributed to the arrogance of her opponent who was just playing with her. She was so clearly outmatched, that the outcome was painfully obvious. If anything she was going to buy herself and her teammates another couple of minutes of life. But surprisingly she was saved by the arrival of another Konoha genin team. By that time the pink haired girl was already in no shape to even stand, having numerous cuts, bruises and having lost a good portion of her long hair.

Strangely enough the sound trio were opposed by only one konoha genin, who was sometimes speaking utter nonsense, not to mention that his clothes were bizarre to say the least. His teammates silently observed the engagement from another tree, but even without their help the konoha genin demonstrated an amazing skill in taijutsu. The style was relatively straightforward, an onslaught of strikes, aimed at joints, vital areas, anything that could potentially cripple or even kill the opponent. But even that would've been useless of it was not for the arrival of another konoha genin team, this one taking a more careful approach, by capturing one of the sound nins and using her as a hostage.

The area was quickly becoming a bit crowded. The Konoha ninjas were known for looking out for each other, but this was getting ridiculous. The sound genin were soon in a very tight spot, being outnumbered, but they were not about to give up. If anything they were willing to sacrifice their teammate in order to accomplish their mission. They already revealed that they were after Uchiha Sasuke and it was all too ironic that their target was actually the one to finally end the engagement.

When Sasuke appeared his aura alone made everyone turn in his direction. The left part of his body was covered in some sort of black markings and those around him shivered from the menacing vibe he was giving off. He radiated power, but that power was foul, cold, twisted, unnatural.

"Sakura, who did this to you?" Sasuke spoke not turning to his teammate who was unable to answer. She just stared at Sasuke, who waited for answer.

"I did, so what?" Zaku smirked. He actually welcomed this turn of events. He wanted to kill Sasuke and now instead of having to fight all of these would be ninjas he had his target right in front of him. Unfortunately for him, Sasuke also welcomed a chance to test out the new power and now he had a perfect reason and a perfect target. It was over in about a minute with Sasuke holding Zaku in pain lock, threatening to break his arms. As it turned out, he was more than willing to do it, as a moment later Zaku screamed out in pain when Sasuke pulled his wrists back, breaking his arms.

"So be it." The figure in the tree nodded. The skin on his wrist parted as something white pierced it. Without a sound he pulled out another white arrow out of his own hand as if it was the most natural thing to do and readied his bow. He took a careful aim, pulling back the bow string with his index and middle finger.

"Stop, just please, stop!" Sakura embraced Sasuke from behind, desperately trying to stop him. The way he acted, the cruelty he showed, it was not him, it couldn't be him.

The mysterious archer hesitated for a moment, but his arrow had more than enough power to deliver a mortal blow even with an obstacle in it's way such as another person. He caught the moment between his heart beating and released the arrow.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

An arrow was but a flash of white as it sailed towards the target. Sakura's exposed back would not protect Sasuke's heart. It would be over in less than a second, a quick, merciful death. No screams of pain, no moans, no goodbyes. Like cutting a thread.

CLING!

In mid flight a kunai struck the arrow, knocking it away. It had hit the grown right behind Sasuke and Sakura, digging half way into the ground. Everyone stared at it, not understanding where it came from.

"Good aim, Tenten." Neji nodded to his teammate who still stood with her hand stretched after a throw. Neji's byakugan saw the unidentified ninja observing the fight, but it was unclear if he just observed, sought to steal the scroll, or had a different motive. That was partially the reason why he and Tenten remained behind. Only his teammate with her nearly perfect aim could actually intercept a projectile like an arrow.

Without another word she unsealed several large shuriken from one of her scrolls and threw them at the spot the arrow came from. They cut off several of the branches, but there was nothing else to hit there.

"He is escaping." Neji observed. "Come Tenten." Theie third teammate, Lee, was in no shape to follow them right now, while others stayed to finish up with the sound trio. Sasuke wanted to follow as well, but felt how anger and his new found power slowly drained away. He still looked at the only sound ninja who remained standing, the one who resembled a mummy with the bandages covering most of his face.

"Very well, you have us beat. Here, you will need this to move on. I will just take my teammates and leave." Dose pulled out their scroll and slowly lowered it to the ground. Nobody replied, but nobody attacked either, so he slowly picked up Zaku and Kin and jump into the trees, leaving the clearing where the battle occurred.

….

"He is fast." Neji commented. He and Tenten were in pursuit of the attacker, who was constantly changing direction, using trees for cover, not letting Tenten to knock him down, or at least slow him down in any way. Neji kept observing him through the byakugan, trying to figure who this guy was. If he was one of the genin in the exams, then where was his team. If not, who else he could be? A critical question and only the one currently running away could provide an answer.

"He moved down." Neji said when he saw their target jumped down to the ground.

"Why did he do that? He doesn't gain anything from that." Tenten asked landing next to Neji and running after him.

"I don't know, but be careful. We are gaining on him." Indeed the gap between them was getting smaller and smaller and it wouldn't be long until the two genin would be upon their target. They already could see him clearly, dressed in dark grey garb with a bow on his back. Tenten prepared her scroll, ready to unseal a weapon to throw at her target that now was visible to her, but just as she got ready to do it, the archer jumped forward, flipping in mid air and throwing something at them.

"Smoke bombs!" Neji said. He wasn't concerned, the smoke would not stop the byakugan, but he soon regretted not getting away from the blast like his teammate. What he thought to be a feeble attempt to get away turned out to be a planned attack. This was no regular smoke designed for concealment. It became hard to breath, it burned Neji's eyes and it made him dizzy. He jumped out of the cloud, but the effects didn't disappear. Especially the burning in the eyes, it became unbearable, like his eyes were literally on fire.

With a pain scream Neji slumped down to his knees, coughing and rubbing his eyes.

"Neji!" Tenten kicked off the tree trunk where she ended up after escaping the initial blast. She saw that Neji was in serious trouble, but just as she was a few steps away from her teammate the mysterious archer appeared. He was taller than her and from what she could tell a year or maybe a year and a half older, but she could be wrong as most of his face was hidden by a cloth mask. There was no time to ponder over those questions. She reached for her scrolls, but her opponent was not about to allow that. He lashed out with a kick to her face, forcing her to raise her hands to block. The kick was hard, but she endured much more powerful strikes by training with Lee. Still she was no taijutsu expert and slowly retreated, waiting for the moment to gain ground and attack from distance. She also hoped that Neji would get better and join the fight. He would easily be able to fend off this guy in close quarters, allowing her to shower the enemy with projectiles. The same thought must have crossed the mind of her foe, who grabbed her wrist, pulling her to the side. That exposed him for her attack and Tenten didn't hesitate to smash her elbow into his chest to knock him back. That turned out to be a wrong move. It seemed that she had hurt herself more than him. He barely moved from the strike, while she felt pain surge from her elbow as if she had just hit a tree with all her strength. Her opponent then pulled her hand and kneed her in the gut, knocking all air out of her. The strike was repeated twice, until she slumped to her knees in pain. She gasped, trying to try and force at least some air inside of her and scowled in pain. She looked up at the ninja towering over her. If he decided to kill her, she would be unable to do anything.

"You should not have interfered with matters beyond your understanding." He spoke suddenly. Tenten looked up angrily. She actually expected him to finish the fight now that he had the chance.

"You tried to kill my comrades, what is there to understand?" she snapped, her voice trembling from pain.

"Sometimes death is mercy." He spoke and then looked to the side when he heard Neji get up. The young Hyuga slid into the juuken stance, but it was clear that he was still suffering from the effects of the strange smoke. Tenten shook her head. If Neji was going to fight in that condition he wouldn't last a second.

"Don't follow." The masked ninja said and jumped back into the trees, disappearing from view.

"Neji, you alright?" Tenten pulled herself up, feeling that she was quite ready to part with whatever food she had in her stomach.

"I think I will be. My eyes, they don't burn as much, the effects must be only temporary."

"Or perhaps you just weren't exposed to that smoke for long enough. Here, try to wash that stuff out." Tenten handed Neji her water canteen and the Hyuga used the water to gently wash his eyes, feeling how the cold water did miracle soothing the pain and restoring his vision that before was a bit blurry.

"Byakugan!" Neji activated the Hyuga bloodline, but their foe was already out of his range. "We should head back."

The journey back would take much more time, because Tenten had no intention of running, her body protesting to her every move. She bit her lip and followed Neji, no need for her teammate to think of her as of some weak girl. Women could endure pain just as well as men could.

…

Naruto woke up soon after the battle was over. Sakura already knew that when waking up Naruto could be a bit slow and that also applied if he woke up after being knocked out. He was quite surprised by the presence of team 10 and Rock Lee, who sitting by the tree trunk, resting. Sasuke walked away, saying that he needed to think, but they could still see him standing in the shadow of a tree, leaning on the trunk. Ino and Sakura were busy with Ino trying to do her best to even out the ends of Sakura's mangled hair. Shikamaru only said that all of this was troublesome and laid down. Thus Chouji was left with the noble task of explaining Naruto with what had happened.

Lee was the first to notice that Neji and Tenten had returned, most likely because he was waiting for them to return with worry evident on his face.

"Neji, Tenten, my youthful friends! How did the chase go?"

"He got away." Neji said with frown. It was clear that the young Hyuga wasn't pleased with the result and didn't want to disclose details, not yet at least.

"Oh, that is too bad, but at least you two are unharmed."

"Speak for yourself." Tenten rubbed her stomach, knowing that there would be one hell of a bruise there later.

"That ninja was not a participant of the exams." Neji stated.

"You sure?" Ino looked up.

"Positive. His identity and motives remain a mystery. It is clear that he is willing to kill in order to accomplish his mission whatever it is. On the other hand, he does not seek unnecessary blood."

"How do you know that?" Sasuke came up, interested by the topic.

"Because I and Tenten are still alive." Neji explained. Lee seemed to be taken aback by the statement, but said nothing. "Anyway now it is essential to get to the tower as quickly as possible. An unidentified ninja, willing to kill Konoha shinobi is something we must report as quickly as possible."

"Yeah and also that snake ninja." Naruto muttered. He didn't like the idea of Sakura and Sasuke nearly being killed while he was unconscious.

"Snake ninja?" Neji turned to Naruto. Sasuke silently cursed his loudmouth teammate. He didn't want too many people knowing about Orochimary, but then again, keeping such things a secret would be hard if not impossible.

"You know, the one that attacked us earlier. Had a freaky tongue and summoned those giant snakes, knocked me out."

"Knocking you out is not much of an achievement Naruto." Ino said matter of factly, earning an angry expression from Naruto.

"You know, Ino, Naruto isn't knocked out that easily and if anything, he protected me and Sasuke."

"Oh." Ino looked at Sakura with wide eyes. Since when was she protecting Naruto.

"Thanks Sakura-chan." Naruto grinned.

"Don't get your hopes up." Sakura pointed her finger at Naruto, but her annoyed expression and slightly angry tone did nothing to wipe off his goofy grin. "But he is right, that Orochimaru guy was no genin, that is for sure."

"Orochimaru? Weird name." Chouji shrugged.

"That further complicates things." Neji shook his head. "It is more than likely that this Orochimaru character and the archer we pursued are in some way connected. The faster we deliver information the better, this is n longer just about the exams, this is about the village security. Everyone has the needed scrolls?"

"Yeah, got both." Ino pointed at Shikamaru with her chin as it was he who carried their scrolls. The young Nara only muttered something, but not loud enough for others to hear. Sasuke checked the scroll they got from Dosu.

"We've only got the earth scroll."

"Nope. We've got both." Naruto grinned again.

"Did you hit your head too hard?" Sasuke snapped at his blonde teammate.

"Nah, back when you were all shaking like a leaf and I took the scroll, I used a clone to hide it. All we need to do is go and pick it up."

"Hey, that's right, I remember that the snake guy never found anything in your pouch, though he didn't seem that interested in it anyway." Sakura remembered and then turned to Naruto. "You actually thought of hiding the scroll away?"

"Hey, don't act so surprised." Naruto pouted.

"Err, sorry, but thinking things though is just not your thing." Sakura mentioned. "But good thinking though. Never thought I'd say that." Sakura shook her head.

"Since our team also has both scrolls, I suggest we go and pick the one belonging to team 7 and then head to the tower. Considering the size of our group it is highly unlikely we will be attacked." Neji concluded. "We move out in ten minutes."

"Pft, who put him in charge." Ino looked annoyed. "I bet Sasuke would have a better plan."

Neji if he heard that didn't comment, he went over to Tenten who was inspecting something. He saw that she was looking over the arrow that was left behind after they forced him to retreat. It was a strange looking thing, almost completely white.

"Can you say anything about it?" Neji asked since Tenten after all was their weapon expert. She frowned and nodded.

"This is unlike any arrow I have seen. From what I can tell it is made from solid bone."

"Bone? Not the most durable material." Neji shook his head.

"I'd agree, but here, try and break it."

Neji didn't understand what Tenten wanted to prove, by him snapping the thing. It was so thin a child probably could do it.

"Hn." Neji looked over the arrow in surprise. Despite his best efforts it didn't break. He managed to bend it, but never break.

"I never met the material as flexible and as sturdy." Tenten commented. She then pulled a kunai and tried to cut the arrow, but made only barely visible scratches. This material is obviously not suitable to make heavy cutting weapons, but projectiles …. A whole different story. Light, durable, unafraid of corrosion, such gear doesn't come cheap, especially considering the obvious rarity of the material.

"In other words that guy has access to first grade gear, the smoke bomb he used against us only proves that. This can't be good."

"I'll take the arrow, perhaps specialists will be able to determine something from it." Tenten sealed the arrow in one of her scrolls. She looked around and rolled her eyes.

"Not again." Lee was doing push ups on his index finger, being already somewhere around the third hundred.

…

"Naruto, how much longer?!" Sakura raised her voice. For the last ten minutes Naruto was searching around the bushes for the scroll. Leave it to Naruto to hide the scroll and loose it in the process.

"Found it!" Naruto ran out of the bushed with a scroll in hand. "Now we can pass to the next stage."

"Whatever, hand it over." Sasuke demanded. Naruto looked at him with obvious distaste and frowned.

"You aren't going to give it away to the nearest snake ninja, are you?"

"Naruto." Sasuke obviously didn't like Naruto of all people accusing him of cowardice. On the other hand Naruto's doubt was this time somewhat justified, another thing Sasuke hated to admit and the lack Sakura's angry outburst in his defense was a clear evidence.

"Fine, keep it, just don't loose it, dobe."

"What was that teme?"

"Oh quit it! What are you five?" Tenten looked at them in disbelief.

"I most certainly am not!" both Sasuke and Naruto yelled in unison and then glared at each other. Tenten didn't know is she should act angry, annoyed or amused, so she just shrugged and stepped aside.

"They always like that?" Ino whispered to Sakura.

"Oh, no. Usually they are not as civil with each other." Sakura shook her head.

"Civil?" Ino looked at Naruto and Sasuke, both of whom were walking not far from them throwing angry glances at each other. Sakura actually called this civil.

"Onward, to our most youthful goal."

"Lee." Tenten moaned miserably noticing how everyone were looking at her teammate with wide eyes. To make it worse Lee didn't seem to notice and walked off with a smile.

"Don't ask." Neji sighed and followed his teammate.

"Shikamaru, Chouji, forget what I ever said about you two being weird. Now I have seen weird and it's color is green." Ino muttered.

"At least he didn't ask you to go out with him." Sakura nodded and then realizing that she probably shouldn't have said that, because seconds later Ino began laughing like a maniac pointing at Sakura.

"Oh shut it already, pig!"

"What was that forehead?"

"You heard me!"

"Maybe it's the blonde hair that irritates people around." Tenten wondered. Right behind her, Chouji dreamed of BBQ, while Shikamaru dreamed of dreaming. They must've been the most peculiar group ever.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"So, you confirm it, Anko?"

"For the last time, it was Orochimaru! You know I would never mistake him for anyone."

"Very well." Hiruzen Sarutobi calmly nodded, sitting in his comfortable armchair. Nothing betrayed concern in the features of the old Hokage, if anything he knew perfectly well how to conceal his thoughts. "I guess that confirms the genin report."

"Finally." Anko sighed and rubbed her shoulder in pain, she was all sore from her little run in with her former sensei. "Damn, forgot how strong that bastard is, and he isn't getting any weaker."

"Why would someone like Orochimaru attack a genin team?" Kurenai asked. Orochimaru was a sannin, a ninja of the highest caliber. Attacking a genin team, a rookie genin team was not something one would expect from him.

"Orochimaru never does anything without a reason and I reckon he was always fascinated with unique abilities. His interest in ninjutsu, his inability to stay within the lines of reason was the reason why he turned rogue in the first place. And we all here know that team 7 is a very unique team. Orochimaru could be interested either in Uchiha Sasuke or … "

"The nine-tailed fox." Aoba finished.

"Uzumaki Naruto." The third corrected slightly narrowing his eyes.

"Please, the bastard gave the Uchiha a curse seal, quite clear who he is after." Anko scowled. "I know how that works, if you remember."

"I remember Anko, but from the information we got form the genin Orochimaru also did something to Naruto. Haruno Sakura reported that during the engagement Naruto demonstrated incredible power and looked almost feral. She assumed that it was just adrenalin and Naruto's wild nature, but after the incident in the Wave we can safely assume that was another leak of the nine-tails chakra."

"Lord Hokage, you believe Orochimaru did something with the seal?" Kakashi asked with concern for his students.

"I doubt he damaged it, Minato was a master far beyond Orochimaru when it comes to seals, but I also will not overlook the danger. Since they are still participating in the exam, we can not interfere, but I want both of them examined once the second stage of the exam is officially over. Jiraiya will be in the village by that time."

The news resulted in a low buzz, created by the people filling the office. Jiraiya was not seen in the village for quite some time and if they had trouble with a sannin, who was better to handle it all than another sannin.

"But until then we just wait?" Asuma didn't seem to like the idea of that.

"Yes, after all, patience is a virtue."

"What about the archer. Orochimaru's accomplice?" Kurenai asked.

"Hmm, he does not fit in with all of this. Orochimaru is not beyond using pawns, but this shinobi acted strangely. From what I understand he tried assassinating Sasuke. If Orochimaru targets Sasuke, then the order of his removal is pure nonsense."

"Then …. cough ….maybe he is connected to the sound genin team, they also …. cough …seemed to be after Sasuke." Hayate suggested, covering his mouth with his hand between his coughs.

"That is more probable, but also doesn't fit in completely. Either way there is not enough information. I will order ANBU operatives to watch both Sasuke and Naruto during the one month period between the second and third stages of the exam."

"There is a minor problem ….. cough."

"Yes, Hayate?"

"The number of teams. Should at least one more team arrive, we will be forced to hold a preliminary round."

"I have the right to be present during such events. Should the need arise, we will hold the preliminaries in a standard manner. Dismissed."

It took less than five seconds for his large office to become empty with only the Hokage himself left in his armchair. He folded his arms under his chin in deep though closing his eyes. The recent events could potentially be signs of upcoming storm. Orochimaru alone was a reason for worry and the actions of the sound genin team, the appearance of the strange archer made the situation even more confusing. With a deep sigh he stood up and lit his pipe, the thing always helped him get his thoughts into order. He paced around his office for some time before walking out.

"I'll be back in a couple of hours."

"Yes lord Hokage." The ANBU guard nodded and remained standing by the entrance to the office. Hiruzen went to the village main armory that was located at the base of the Hokage mountain, directly under the face of the second Hokage. An unremarkable building was built so that it could survive the Hokage mountain itself collapsing over it, though nobody actually wanted to test that theory out.

The armory had most of the basic ninja gear, uniforms worn by most Konoha ninja of a chunin rank and higher, a collection of weapons and some more specific pieces of equipment, some not available to most and kept locked in underground vaults beneath the armory. But Hiruzen was not interested in what was kept in the armory, instead he approached an unremarkable door, which led into what turned out to be some sort of a workshop.

"Any news, Kensa?" Hiruzen addressed a man who seemed to be in his late fifties. He was wearing a simple outfit with a thick leather apron over it. He also seemed to be looking over an object on the workbench in front of him.

"Tsk, you always find something interesting for me to work on."

"You sound as if you are disappointed by that."

"No, not at all. Why would I be annoyed at having to inspect various devices and tools you lot use to kill each other. This job warms my heart."

"It also pays for the food on your table." Hiruzen mentioned.

"That is low."

"And you are being a hypocrite, you design those devices we lot use to kill each other."

"Right, the inventor is at fault. You know a kunai won't hurt anyone until a hand throws it."

"Yes and an automatic shoe polisher usually does not make a building collapse."

"That was just one time! How was I supposed to know that the support beams would collapse due to the vibrations?"

"Portable shovel?"

"Hey, that is another low blow. Nobody even got hurt then ….. much."

"Just stick with things that kill people, they at least do what they are intended for." Hiruzen sighed. Kensa had tinkering in his blood, but whatever he made it always had potential to kill or cause destruction. Still he was one of the best experts on weaponry Konoha had to offer. He could tell where the kunai was made just by looking at it, even though to most any two kunai would look identical. His was a walking encyclopedia of various materials, forging methods, designs and their combinations.

"Whatever, come over here. A very interesting weapon. Crude and at the same time very effective." Kensa held up the white arrow.

"Elaborate."

"Well, as you see it lacks details. What is weird is that it lacks any sign of craftsmanship at all. I mean I can usually tell if the weapon was forged, at which temperature, what tool was used to carve it out, or what needle and thread were used to stitch something together. But this arrow, nothing."

"Any ideas?"

"Well, the genin that found it is right, it is made of bone. Didn't know anyone used such a material since stone age, but whatever. But of all the bones to use for making weapons, this was a perfect choice."

"Why is that?"

"Any regular arrow is made from a combination of materials. Metal for arrowheads, wood for shafts, cloth or feathers for fletching. But this arrow here, is a pure and not to mention solid piece of bone. The shaft becomes thicker at one end and ends in a sharp point, creating a variation of an arrow head. Now look here, see these small fins at the other end, they play the role of airfoils and stabilize the flight."

"Then why do you call it crude?"

"Would you call an arrow carved out of a solid piece of wood complex?"

"No." Hiruzen agreed. "But since you also called it effective, I dare say this thing does it's job."

"It does it superbly. This bone is far denser than any other similar material. Nowhere near to metal, but it will pierce cloth, leather, flesh, wood, brittle rock easily. Any metal weapon will require considerable effort to cut through it."

"Anything else?"

"Oh yes. This bone is also incredibly flexible. I was able to bend it at an almost 30 degree angle by applying significant force, but it didn't break and once I removed the weight it became perfectly straight again."

"So it is durable and is able to retain it's shape. How can you explain that it lacks any sign of craftsmanship?"

"I have no idea. I can't tell much else unless I know how the weapon was made and this thing ….. well …. how do I put it ….. it wasn't made." Kensa scratched his head in thought.

"What do you mean exactly?"

"Wish I knew. The best I can come up with is that there is an animal with arrow shaped bones somewhere. Now that is a strange picture eh?"

"Very strange."

"Still, if you find that miracle of nature, bring several here, most of the fletchers will go out of business and stop making second rate weapons that can't kill a fly."

"I'll keep that in mind. What about the arrow though. What else can you tell me?"

"Nothing, I am out. This thing holds it secrets well and I can't help you with it. Take them to the boys in white labcoats. If it is a bone it originally came from something that was alive as I understand it and things that are alive are more in their field of expertise, even if the bone wasn't shaped as an arrow originally."

"Thanks, I think I'll take it right away." Hiruzen hid the white arrow in the inner pocket of his robe.

"You do that, play the role of an errand boy and stop making fun of my inventions, someday I will invent something you will use in your everyday life and bless my name. Like an automatic smoking pipe lighter!"

"I would be better off using an exploding tag."

"Hmm a miniature exploding tag would actually work. Got to test that."

"Ugghhh." Hiruzen moaned in frustration. Kensa played on his nerves ever since he met him, but he was one of his most loyal friends and one hell of a weapon expert. But right now even he was unable to crack the puzzle.

…..

Team 7, like any other team that made it to the tower with significant time before the official end of the second stage of the exam was provided with a room to rest. The accommodations in the tower were far from perfect. If anything, it made them feel imprisoned. The reasons were simple. First of all the conditions were quite Spartan, the three simple beds, a crude table and a couple of chairs were about all the comforts there were, if not counting a small bathroom that only had a toilet and a sink. Sakura's dreams of a warm shower were crushed to bits, but she at least managed to properly wash off the dirt and grime off herself and inspect the cuts and bruises she received during the battle with the sound genin. Second, they were actually not allowed to leave.

"So, what do we do now?" Naruto asked while sitting on his bed. He threw off is orange jacket staying only in his equally orange pants and the black t-shirt.

"We wait until this stage of the exam is over." Sasuke stared at the ceiling with his arms neatly folded under his head.

"That's right Sasuke." Sakura agreed. "We told Iruka-sensei everything we knew and he promised to inform the Hokage. Now we can only wait and rest and we do need some rest."

"But this will be so boring." Naruto frowned. "Iruka-sensei said we are not to leave the room until the exam is over. Why the hell we can't leave and look around?"

"Probably because they don't want the genin from different teams killing each other once they have reached the tower." Sasuke replied.

"Yeah, besides, a true ninja must know how to wait patiently, so just relax."

It turned out Naruto indeed knew how to relax, for about fifteen minutes. After that he jumped off the bed declaring that he was going to train his chakra control.

"Naruto …. " Sakura hissed, but Sasuke shook his head.

"Let him do it, when things are quiet with him around it feels almost unnatural."

"Oh, alright." Sakura nodded. Naruto went over to the wall, with clear intention to repeat the tree climbing exercise he learned in the wave.

BAM!

Naruto fell down on his head, hard.

"Dobe, don't tell me you forgot that exercise already." Sasuke looked up slightly surprised.

"I just slipped." Naruto stood up, but he didn't do any better. So he tried again and again, slowly going higher, but that only meant that he was falling from greater height as there was not enough room for the usual back flip.

"Makes you wonder." Sasuke rubbed his chin.

"What?" Sakura for a moment zoned out growing tired of Naruto repeatedly inflicting pain on himself.

"First of all, I wonder if Naruto's head could actually be harder than concrete floor, because there are cracks already showing."

"Haha, Sasuke made a joke. Found your sense of humor?" Naruto rolled over looking at Sasuke having just fallen to the floor again.

"I always had my sense of humor."

"You wouldn't know humor if it came and hit you in the face!" Naruto got up.

"Better than being a clown."

"I ought to …. " Naruto growled, but didn't do anything else.

"What is the other thing you are wondering about?" Sakura asked trying to stop the two from fighting.

"If it is another insult, I don't want to hear it." Naruto turned around.

"I was wondering why you suddenly are unable to control your chakra."

"I though I said … "

"No insult was intended, even you are not that dumb to suddenly forget the chakra control exercise."

"How can you make something that is not an insult sound like one." Naruto scratched his head.

"Something happened that screwed up you chakra control, maybe it was when that Orochimaru guy slammed you in the gut."

Sasuke and Sakura saw that Naruto's expression suddenly changed from that of annoyance to one of fear.

"Nah, I am just not concentrated enough. I'd better get back to training."

"Well, there is another thing you suck at, Naruto." Sasuke rested his hand on his chin as he sat up. "You are a terrible liar."

"And there is another thing you are good at Sasuke." Naruto spoke without turning. "Pocking your nose into other people's business."

"Suit yourself." Sasuke sighed.

"Sasuke, you really think that Orochimaru did something to Naruto?" Sakura whispered as Naruto resumed his falling to the floor routine.

"It is possible."

"Then we can't just sit and do nothing."

"It seems personal to him, I won't press him into answering."

"But he is our teammate." Sakura looked at Naruto who managed to do a couple more steps before falling down.

"Yeah, a teammate who knows when to stop asking personal questions, because answering them might be painful. Wish I could say the same about you." Sasuke snapped at her angrily und turned away on his bed.

"Aww, how come I turn out to be an insensitive bad guy?" Sakura frowned.

"Because you are insensitive. Look at him, you are annoyed that he doesn't sit still. But he is not just goofing around, he is trying to get better. Life throws him down and he keeps getting up again and again. Look at him, he loses battles, but never admits defeat in the war. That takes strength, the strength of character, which allows you to overcome the weakness of the body and mind. I respect that strength." Sasuke whispered angrily.

"You respect … Naruto?" for the first time in her life Sakura head Sasuke admit it.

"I considered him a sad failure. A lost cause, a burden. But I saw that he is willing to risk life in order not to remain a failure. He doesn't give up and is rewarded for his efforts. He saved us back there, saved in more ways than one, respect that."

"I …. ummm ….. "

"I want to sleep, wake me if they bring food."

"Alright." Sakura nodded sadly and looked at Naruto again, who had already almost reached the ceiling. He crashed again, but got up swiftly. She realized that this routine demonstrated his whole life. Reaching higher, falling down, getting up and reaching even higher. He just kept on going, because for him the alternative was worse than death.

…

The target slipped away due to unfortunate interference. Sadly such matters were often beyond any control. The tower was a fortress, literally. The security was very tight and trying to infiltrate it would be simply suicidal, thus a complete waste of life. No, for the time being he had to pull back. Without a doubt the Konoha shinobi were already looking for him, but due to the chunin exams their resources were limited. They had to keep an eye on almost every foreign ninja, since rival villages were a far more realistic threat, despite any written treaties. After all what was a piece of paper when one could get his hands on something far more substantial. If anything, treaties and agreements were used to calm down the civilian population who lived in a blissful illusion of their own significance. The whole world was like a giant theatre and everyone played a role, forever bound to wear masks and lie.

The figure leapt over the fence separating the Forest of Death from the rest of the world. The perimeter was heavily guarded, but the night was dark and even the sharpest eye would have trouble noticing anything. The chunin patrolling this section of the fence turned around sharply when he heard a strange noise. He couldn't identify the sound and went to investigate. He looked around, as if his gaze could pierce the darkness, but saw nothing.

"Stupid owls, why can't they hunt during the day, like normal birds." The chunin yawned and turned around to resume his patrol. If he would've looked down he would've noticed a figure sprawled on the ground just next to him. The moment the footsteps became feint the figure stood up and ran off, his feet barely making a sound as he left the Forest of Death behind in the night. He made it to the outskirts of Konoha, the streets being empty during this late hour, but ninja patrols were common due to the chunin exams.

There was an abandoned district not far, people moved out after a large local fire. It was easier to relocate than to rebuild, since there were hardly any buildings left standing. But if the building above was ruined, that didn't mean the same for a cellar and that was where the archer took shelter. He chose this one, because due to the old age one of the walls collapsed, opening a passage to the sewer system that was still connected to the main sewer system. It was a perfect escape route should something like that be required. Not the escape route one would wish for, but nobody ever said being a ninja was glamorous. The figure currently occupying the place also wasn't picky. He simply sat down against the wall and pulled out a ration bar and pulled down. A tasteless thing, unless one considered dirt having a taste. Still it supplied the body with everything it might need.

Putting the last bit of the simple meal into the mouth the ninja moved over to the wall, where he pulled a traveling bag from underneath some debris. Inside were the same smoke bombs he used, sets of shuriken, but no kunai, additional ration bars, extra string for the bow, explosive tags and some medical supplies. He took a couple more smoke bombs and a ration bar, putting everything else away. For now he was equipped with everything he needed.

There would be one month time between the second and third stages of the exam. That time could be used looking for another opportunity to strike, looking for additional information, perhaps eliminating critical obstacles. But caution would be necessary, the Forest of Death was a far better place for one who desired to remain unseen.

…

Ironically ration bars were also the meal served to the genin in the tower. That hardly made anyone happy, but the chunin simply came, left the bars along with a jar of fresh water and left silently. As promised Sakura woke up Sasuke whose eyes shot open the moment she touched his shoulder.

"Errr, supper." Sakura explained.

"Alright, thanks." Sasuke sat on the bed with a nod and saw Naruto munching on a ration bar with distaste written all over his face.

"Damn, dog food must taste better." Naruto growled.

"Yeah, not much of a treat, isn't it." Sakura sighed and bit a piece off her ration bar. That hardly made her happy.

"Better than nothing." Sasuke took his share and began eating slowly. Hisface didn't show it, but he also did not enjoy the meal, but it did somewhat fill his otherwise empty stomach.

"I bet Ichiraku is still open right now. I could really go for a nice big bowl of pork ramen right now."

"Naruto … shut up." Sakura growled.

"What did I say now?"

"How do you think it feels listening to you dreaming about ramen while we are eating … this." Sakura held up her half finished ration bar to emphasize the point.

"But you don't really like ramen." Naruto objected.

"At least ramen can be called actual food." Sakura said and slumped against the wall. The chunin exams were clearly designed for one purpose only, make participants miserable.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Almost half of the genin who have participated in the preliminary round of the chunin exam ended up in the hospital. Konoha was famous for the quality of the medical attention it could provide. Now they had numerous patients to take care of.

Rock Lee was the worst. His battle with Gaara of the sand left his body broken and his ninja career in question. Not only did he cause serious damage to his muscle, chakra and nervous system by opening five of the eight chakra gates, he also suffered massive injuries that were inflicted by Gaara's sand. The bones in his arm and leg were broken in several spots and would require much time to heal.

Then there were two members of team 8. Hyuga Hinata suffered internal injuries around her heart, while her teammate Kiba ended up in the hospital with a severe concussion after Naruto's kick rammed his head into the ground.

Tenten was admitted with sprained back, but got off lucky as she was close to actually breaking her spine. Finally there was Uchiha Sasuke, whose body was recovering after Kakashi sealed up the curse mark. Sealing techniques always were straining on the body, especially the more complex ones and naturally nothing simple would work against the curse mark.

Yes, the hospital staff had lots of work treating injured ninjas, you could see doctors and nurses running around, making sure the patients drank their medicine or went through the necessary procedures. The hospital building resembled an ant hill, with everyone knowing where to go and what to do. To those outside it could seem chaotic, but nothing could be farther from the truth. It was a well developed system that functioned at the best of it's ability.

"What do you mean we can't see him!" Naruto's voice rand across the hospital hallways. He and Sakura came to pay Sasuke a visit at the hospital, but the lady at the reception told them that he was not cleared to have visitors.

"Idiot, it is a hospital, stop yelling, you are too loud!" Sakura said after she smacked Naruto on the head for being obnoxious.

"Ow, ow, ow." Naruto rubbed his head. It was amazing how he never complained about the injuries he received after his battle with Kiba, but now whined at being smacked on the head. Sakura still remembered how Naruto once more proved that he was incredibly hard to pin down. He simply refused to lose and no matter what Kiba threw at him his incredible stamina and willpower absorbed everything to return it to Kiba with interest. And then, after all that he was jumping from joy and grinning.

"Excuse me, but why can't we see him. Is it something serious?" Sakura turned her attention back to the matter at hand.

"All I know that he is not to receive any visitors."

"Tsk, wait, what about bushy eyebrows?" Naruto asked.

"He means Rock Lee." Sakura explained when the woman looked at Naruto with confusion.

"Ah him, just a minute ... " the woman began to check her notes. " ... hmm, ahh yes, here he is. I am sorry, he just underwent serious surgery, no visitors."

"Again that crap?" Naruto stomped angrily and frowned. "And Hinata?"

"Hyuga Hinata." Sakura again specified, though she doubted there were many other girls with that name.

"Accepting visitors." The lady nodded, but before Naruto had a chance to ask anything else added that only the members of her clan and genin team were allowed.

"What?! Who can we visit then? I am going to ... "

"Calm down, Naruto." A calm voice cam from the side.

"Kakashi-sensei." Sakura smiled when she saw their teacher come down the stairs, followed by a strange man with long white hair.

"Sasuke is doing fine and is resting now. I am sure he will be discharged soon, so no need to worry."

"Oh, that is good to hear. But why can't we see him?"

"Yeah, I don't remember teme getting that badly beaten up after his fight." Naruto crossed his arms on his chest.

"We had to make sure that everything was alright after you ran into ... how did you put it ... snake ninja."

"Oh, that creep." Naruto nodded and Sakura remembered the strange mark that appeared on Sasuke's shoulder. That must be the reason Sasuke was admitted to the hospital.

"Anyway, you and Sasuke will need to prepare for the third stage of the exam." Kakashi spoke.

"Oh yeah, can't wait to pound that Neji guy into the ground." Naruto scowled, his palm curling into the fist.

"Neji will be a strong opponent Naruto, you will need help to prepare for that battle."

"Alright, what is the first thing we do, sensei."

"Wait, wait. I never said I would be the one helping you, Naruto. Don't look at me like that, you know that since both me and Sasuke share the sharingan I am the only one who can truly help him and if you remember, Gaara is not someone who you would want to face unprepared."

Sakura expected Naruto to object, but the blonde seemed to consider what he heard.

"So, if you won't teach me, who will?"

"Naruto, allow me to introduce master Jiraiya." Kakashi motioned towards the man behind him, who right now was openly leering at the cute nurse nearby oblivious to the conversation in front of him.

"That pervert will teach me? Yeah, right." Naruto shook his head, but Sakura suddenly smacked him on the head again.

"Naruto, don't you understand who that is. It is Jiraiya, student of the third Hokage. Iruka told us about him and lady Tsunade during lessons at the academy." Sakura remembered the lecture. It never crossed her mind that Iruka never told them about the third member of the team. It was decided that the younger generation didn't need to know about some darker parts of history, including the betrayal of Orochimaru. Thus many knew who Jiraiya or Tsunade were, but not about their third teammate. And even Jiraiya and Tsunade for many were mere symbolic images and not actual people or village shinobi. For those younger, they were just icons of their time.

Jiraiya seemed to hear Sakura's words and finally tore his eyes away from the nurse.

"That is correct. I am the man who is known north and south, west and east, my enemies tremble before me and women squeal with joy at my presence. I am non other than the great mountain hermit, the toad sage Jiraiya!" the whole introduction was followed by a silly dance that most likely was aimed at making Jiraiya look cooler. It was followed by several minutes of silence.

"And you call me an idiot?" Naruto turned to Sakura who was wondering if she made some mistake. Never in her life did she expect a great ninja to act in such a way.

"But ... but ... he is the student of the third Hokage." Sakura mumbled.

"Turns out the old man screwed up as a teacher then." Naruto stated. "All I understand is that he is just a perv."

"Just a perv?!" Jiraiya seemed offended by that. "To your information I am not just a perv, I am one hell of a perv!"

"That doesn't make it any better, you ... you ... pervy sage."

"Pervy sage? You little brat, you should be kissing my feet for agreeing to teach you."

"What on earth could you possibly teach me, I can take you out with a single move."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Then come on, show me what you've got, brat!"

"You got it."

"Oh no." Sakura guessed what was going to happen.

"Sexy no jutsu!"

"Wh ... wh ... whoah!" Jiraiya's eyes threatened to jump out of his skull when he saw that the annoying brat was replaced by a gorgeous and quite naked young woman, whose form was partially hidden by wisps of smoke, preserving her modesty if that word even applied here.

"See, totally out of it." Naruto cancelled the jutsu, much to Jiraiya's dismay. "And that wasn't even my harem jutsu."

"You mean there are more jutsu like that?" Jiraiya exclaimed. "Kid, you are a genius. Keep that up and I am going to teach some awesome jutsu!"

"Really?"

"The mountain sage never lies. Now lets go, your training awaits."

"It better be worth it. Bye, Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto followed the strange man out of the hospital, leaving Sakura with Kakashi.

"That was Jiraiya, the Jiraiya I spoke of?" Sakura asked in disbelief.

"In the flesh." Kakashi nodded.

"He is worse than Naruto!"

"Well, nothing we can do about that." Kakashi shrugged. "I think I remember Ino visiting Choiji on the third floor, perhaps you would like some company."

"Sure, thanks. See you later, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi nodded and turned around. Just a moment ago he saw an all too familiar figure, that went upstairs. Sure, Kabuto could have every reason to be in the hospital, but Kakashi had strong suspicion that the genin was not who he made others think he is. It was just a hunch, a wild guess, but as a ninja Kakashi knew when to trust his guts. This was one such moment.

Kakashi went back to Sasuke's room, his hand ready to grab a kunai from the holster on his thigh, but perhaps there would be no need for that, it could just be his paranoia. Still with Orochimaru around being paranoid was more of a blessing than anything else.

"So, so, decided to play with the adults. Aren't you all full of yourself." Kakashi stepped into Sasuke's room. An ANBU guard that was stationed here to guard the last Uchiha was on the floor in a pool of blood, while Kabuto stood over Sasuke's bed with a strange curved kunai.

"I should've know you would've spotted me, Kakashi."

"Hn." Kakashi tilted his head avoiding a medical scalpel that hit a wall behind him. It was thrown from a blind spot and gave Kabuto the half a second he needed to move over to the window and face Kakashi.

"Good idea, but you think this will help you? If anything, you little act is over. So drop that kunai and surrender, you know I will not hesitate to kill you."

"Of course not, Kakashi, you have a history of killing people, heh, even those closer to you." Kabuto smirked when Kakashi narrowed his only visible eye. That hit a sore spot.

"One more word ... " Kakashi pulled out his own kunai and took a step forward, when suddenly Kabuto jumped him. A single kick to the chest threw the spy over to the opposite wall, but just then the dead ANBU jumped up and jumped through the window, shattering the glass.

Kakashi went over to the window and looked down and Kabuto, who pulled away the ANBU mask, mocking the famed copy ninja.

"He reanimated a dead body, used it as some sort of puppet. Sick technique, but effective as distraction." Kakashi sighed looking to the side. The transformation jutsu was cancelled and it was revealed that it was the dead body of the ANBU Kakashi tried to capture.

Kabuto with a satisfied grin landed outside the hospital grounds and immediately discarded the ANBU clothes. He made sure to mask his scent and take every other measure in order to not be followed, but he didn't count on someone watching him the moment he jumped through the window. The spy was spied on.

...

"So, we are here, why?" Naruto looked around. Jiraiya brought him over to a small river.

"We need a source of water for training."

"You are going to teach me a water jutsu? Awesome!"

"Err, something like that. I am going to teach you a chakra control exercise that will also come quite handy in battle."

"Chakra control? Again?" Naruto rubbed his head. He must've slammed down like three hundred times back in the tower until he was able to repeat the tree climbing exercise.

"Yes, chakra control. You have enormous stamina, monstrous amounts of chakra so you need control or else you will waste energy without any results."

"Pfft, I've doing fine so far."

"You've been lucky so far, brat."

"Whatever, pervy sage."

"Don't call me that! I am Jiraiya, get that through your think skull"

"Jiraiya the pervy sage, fine. What is the exercise."

"You disrespectful little ... ugghh. Fine you will learn to walk on water. Watch." Jiraiya went over to the water and kept walking until he was in the middle of the small river. "Why such a surprised look, didn't think of it being possible, brat?"

"Whoah, that is awesome, pervy sage. How do I do that?"

"The same way you stick to vertical surfaces, but the water is unstable, so you will have to constantly adjust the amount of chakra needed. Now get to it."

"Could you explain that again." Naruto scratched his head.

"No, now try it!"

"Alright, alright, perv." Naruto went over to the water and tried the technique, only to fall into the knee deep water by the shore.

For the next half an hour Jiraiya watched with an amused smile while his student repeatedly fell into the water until he was completely soaked. He somewhat suspected that considering the amount of chakra the kid had, but surprisingly Naruto began to get some progress.

"Hn, come over here, brat!" Jiraiya crouched down with a serious expression.

"What now, I just began to get a hang of it!"

"Just get over here. Good, now pull up your shirt."

"What? What kind of pervert are you?"

"Just do what I say and stop being disrespectful."

"You yourself admitted that you are a big pervert, don't be angry when people rub that in your face." Naruto yelled, but pulled up his shirt.

"Now charge chakra through your body."

"This is stupid." Naruto frowned, but complied. Jiraiya saw how the seal on Naruto's belly became visible, along with unwanted addition Orochimaru placed. It seemed like Orochimaru used a simple five point seal to cut off the limited amount of the fox's chakra that was constantly leaked into Naruto's chakra network. That screwed up the kid's chakra control as it destroyed the balance of energy. Well, luckily Orochimaru was never that much of a seal master, unlike Jiraiya.

"Release!" Jiraiya suddenly slammed his fingers into Naruto's gut. The boy flew back and rolled on the ground from pain.

"What was that all about?" Naruto jumped up.

"Try the exercise now."

"What? I ought to kick you in the ... "

"Just do it."

"Argg." Naruto spun around in frustration and marched over to the water. "Hey, what gives, it is so easy. I am doing it. Yeah!" Naruto began to jump and run around the water surface as he had just received a life time supply of ramen.

"See, I am a great teacher, huh." Jiraiya smiled.

"Maybe, but you are still a pervy sage." Naruto laughed.

"You will never stop calling me that, are you?"

"Nah, unless you will stop being a pervert."

"Fair enough, I guess." Jiraiya scratched his head. "Get back here and dry up, after that I will teach you a killer move. A summoning jutsu."

"Summoning?" Naruto sat down on the shore pulling off his soaked sandals and taking off his jacket. "You mean like that snake guy? Awesome, but I don't want to summon snakes, hate those things now."

"I am the toad sage, so I will teach you to summon toads. They are very useful in battle."

"Hmm, alright." Naruto nodded happily, completely forgetting about his stomach being all sore now. When it came to learning new powerful techniques, he was willing to forget about many things. Besides, pain was not something he was not used to.

...

Gekko Hayate listened carefully. By chance he managed to witness a secret meeting between Kabuto and a sand jounin named Baki and what he had heard was a great reason for concern. Orochimaru was behind the sound village and to make it worse, the sand village, the long standing ally, was willing to betray Konoha and stab it in the back at the most crucial moment.

"The sand will not act until the very last moment, so was the will of Kazekage." Baki spoke quietly and calmly. It was surprisingly easy for him to discuss the betrayal of an allied village like this and Hayate felt anger rise. But he was a trained shinobi and holding his emotions under control was the most important skill in his profession.

"That is fine. Here, this scroll has the detailed information on our plan." Kabuto handed Baki a scroll which Baki hid in his pouch.

"Then all settled."

"Yes, except for one last thing. We need to kill a rat." Kabuto smirked. Hayate immediately understood that his presence was noticed and jumped over the roof edge to try and escape, the information he had was critical.

"I'll do it, after all we are now allies." Baki offered with a shrug.

"As you wish." Kabuto nodded and walked away as Baki disappeared to follow Hayate. "Ally, heh, how easy it is to fool them." Kabuto shook his head and disappeared.

Hayate in the mean time was jumping from roof to roof, trying to get as far away as possible, because it was obvious that the enemy would try to stop him from delivering the critical message. He jumped another ledge, landing on a balcony, from there he jumped over a street and ran up the wall to get to another roof that had a tall water tower built atop of it.

"So, the proctor of the exam. Going somewhere?" Baki appeared in front of Hayate, blocking off the escape route.

"It seems I have no other choice." Hayate pulled out his sword. "If your death is required for me to fulfil my duty, so be it." Without any other words Hayate moved forward. His speed was beyond impressive and Baki took a careful step back preparing for the attack.

"Dance of the crescent moon!"

"Huh?" Baki spun around too late to stop Hayate's attack from the blind spot. It connected with Baki's shoulder, but the strike was not powerful enough to completely cut through the jounin vest, even though it did wound the sand jounin.

"Yes, this village has many talented people. To think you have mastered that technique at your age is truly impressive, but still, the sword is just a sword when it comes to cutting things, it can be stopped. But the blade of the wind, nothing can stop it."

Hayate tried puling the blade out, but couldn't. He saw Baki prepare the Blade of the Wind jutsu, there was no avoiding it at point blank range.

"Gahh!" Baki gasped and blood splashed onto Hayate's face. He saw something white appear from Baki's chest and the sand jounin suddenly dropped down to one knee, gasping for air, the technique he was about to unleash never finished.

"Who ... I ... " Baki tried to speak, but was unable to finish the sentence as he slumped down unconscious. Hayate watched what occurred with wide eyes until he pulled out his blade with considerable effort. He looked around and saw a figure on the water tower. He raised his sword and took a step forward, when a white arrow hit the ground right in front of his foot. The message was quite clear and being in the open Hayate didn't want to risk trying to approach the archer, who moved back and disappeared.

Hayate kneeled in front of the prone sound jounin, who was still alive. First of all he took the scrool from the sand ninja's pouch and then inspected wound. Baki was still alive, but even if he was conscious he would be unable to fight. Most likely the mysterious archer saw the short engagement and noticed that Baki's vest was somehow hardened to withstand strikes. The arrow had hit the sand ninja under the shoulder pad, aimed at the undefended spot. Still even after moving through the body the tip came through the other side, piercing the vest. The piercing potential of this weapon was quite impressive.

Hayate was no medic, but he understood that the arrow most likely pierced Baki's lung and pulling it out would kill the sand ninja. Of course Hayate would not mourn the death of a traitor, but Baki could be a potential source of valuable information, so with another cough Hayate slumped Baki over his back after he retrieved the second white arrow stuck in the roof tile.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Hiruzen Sarutobi called for another meeting with his top shinobi in order to discuss the information brought by Hayate. The situation was no longer simply delicate, it was critical. Instead of a possible attack by a single ninja, even if that ninja was Orochimaru, the village now was forced to prepare for an attack by the combined forces of both the sound and sand villages and that was a direct threat to Konoha's existence.

Right now the scroll brought by Hayate lay opened across Hokage's desk, for everyone present to observe.

"Hmm, a well planned attack. They aim for a swift progress to the village centre in order to cut our forces apart before we will be able to create a stable defence line." Shikaku studied the plan. It had both a map of the village, numerous details and objective that meant to be captured. Basically it was the detailed scenario of the upcoming attack.

"Suggestions?" Hiruzen asked.

"Our main advantage, is that this whole plan is based around one principle, the element of surprise. Since now we know, we can exploit our advantage. Let them move in, assemble hidden counter attack forces to cut them off and then wipe them out once we surround them. I will prepare the basic plan by the morning." Shikaku nodded.

"Agreed. For now we should act as if we are still unaware of the attack. But remain vigilant." Hiruzen spoke.

"Wait, won't they understand that we know everything, now that Baki is captured."

"They might suspect, but the sand already began this very dangerous game and will not back out, too late for that." The third shook his head. "I want all preparation needed for the battle made, but secretly, without drawing extra attention. All the ninjas we can call back from mission are to return without delay. All shinobi ranked chunin and higher are to be informed."

"What about genin?" Kurenai asked.

"For now they should be kept in the dark. They are the centre of attention right now, they will play their act the best of they will never know that the chunin exams are no longer that important. Once the battle will begin they will help evacuate the civilians. This will free up more higher rank ninjas for direct combat. Jounin instructors, I hope your genin will comply with the orders."

The jounin present voiced their confidence in their students, though most knew that some of the genin had mind sets that didn't go well with something like subordination. Kakashi actually was more worried about Sasuke than about Naruto. The young Uchiha could be quite willing to engage enemy ninjas to test out the new abilities he acquired during harsh training with Kakashi.

"We will meet before the final stage of the exam to once more discuss the plan in detail. For now prepare. But before you leave, I want to know if there is any new information about this archer ninja. His motives are unknown and I don't like knowing that there is a ninja whose presence we can't properly analyze." Hiruzen turned to Inuzuka Tsume.

"I am sorry, lord Hokage. I personally inspected the area where Hayate saw that archer, but nothing. He masked all traces of his presence and locating him in the village right now is impossible."

"Hmm. The situation becomes more confusing. I personally can't understand his actions." Hiruzen pulled his pipe out of his mouth and sighed.

"I agree, his actions don't make any sense. First he tries to kill Uchiha Sasuke, then he saves Hayate and basically helps reveal the plot against the village." Asuma pointed out. "I don't understand what he might be trying to achieve."

"Yes, this further complicates things." Kakashi agreed. "Hard to make a decision without knowing his actual intentions. Information is critical right now. Hokage-sama, did you get any information on the strange weapons this ninja uses."

"Nothing substantial. Kensa did provide some interesting details, but nothing that we could use to at least narrow down the possibilities. As for the medical analysis, also nothing we could use." Hiruzen shook his head. The medical research team came out with nothing regarding the bone structure of the white arrow. All they said that they have never saw anything like it.

"Very well." Hiruzen leaned back in his armchair. "We can't waste too much resources on the secondary matter. For now everyone should concentrate on preparing for battle. As for this archer, detain on sight, should he try to escape, use lethal force if necessary, but I'd prefer him captured alive. ANBU are to keep watch over Uchiha Sasuke. That is all we can do for now."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." The jounin present said in unison accepting the order.

….

Sasuke wasn't thrilled that Kakashi had cut this day training session early since he was summoned by the Hokage. The Uchiha felt that he could keep going, despite his hands and feet feeling as if they were made of lead. But the progress was evident. Sasuke knew that he was getting stronger, he was moving forward, towards the goal of facing and ending ….. him.

"Hn." Sasuke shook his head and rubbed his shoulder as he walked back to his apartment. It was already late and the streets were empty, if not counting the ANBU operative who was observing the last Uchiha, ready to jump in case of another attempt on his life.

Sasuke already noticed that every time his thoughts trailed back to Itachi the mark on his shoulder began throbbing, but now it never got beyond that. Kakashi sealed it up and then some seal master added his own touch. Kakashi never said who it was, but from what Sasuke understood the man was a master of seals, second to none. Sasuke wasn't sure if he was pleased with such development or not. He remembered the power that curse mark gave, how easily he overpowered the sound genin. But at the same time he remembered the reactions of others around him. His actions, words, his whole presence made others fear him, look at him as if he did something horrible. Sasuke hated himself, because he remembered that he enjoyed breaking Zaku's arms, that he was savoring his fear, loved the feeling of having someone's life in his hands. Was that what Itachi felt when he slaughtered all those he loved?

"Not like him." Sasuke shook his head. He didn't want to become his brother, to become the very thing he wanted to destroy. What point was there in vengeance, if in the process he would just replace Itachi as a new monster with the sharingan. No, he would face Itachi on his own terms, fight him with his own power it would be his own revenge and nobody else had any part in it.

The decision seemed to make the throbbing of the curse mark disappear, like it was disappointed at Sasuke's thoughts, but the idea only made the Uchiha smile. If anything, that mark would be a good reminder. Itachi became a monster seeking power, Sasuke would not follow in his steps. Resisting this temptation would make him stronger than Itachi. Sasuke would defeat him not only through the strength of ninjutsu, but through the strength of his will as well.

"I don't need this, Itachi!" Sasuke spoke with his head raised. "I will end you, as the Uchiha, with the power of our clan. You betrayed all that was held dear in order to gain more power. I'll prove to you that it was a mistake. I'll show you how a true Uchiha becomes strong."

….

"What a dump." Jiraiya looked around Naruto's room. Moments ago he climbed in through the window and threw the genin on his bed to rest up. The blonde passed out after riding atop Gamabunta for a good three hours, a feat that somewhat impressed the toad boss. But by the moment the toad boss was finished Naruto himself was out like a candle and slid off Gamabunta's head onto the ground. That left Jiraiya with the job of taking the kid back to his apartment to rest and restore energy. But most importantly was that Naruto managed to access the nine-tails chakra, maintain his sanity and control the massive energy in a stable form. That was a combined result of Naruto's chakra control exercises and his impressive willpower that easily suppressed the effects of being exposed to the demon fox chakra.

"Alright, now time to do some so much needed research." Jiraiya grinned and stepped towards the window. But in the darkness he stepped into a half empty bowl of ramen and with a loud scream fell down. Amazingly Naruto slept through the noise and just mumbled something in his sleep.

"Or I could stay here and look after the brat, just in case." Jiraiya looked straight up while being sprawled over the floor. "Nah, research awaits." Jiraiya jumped up and rushed to the window, this time his leg getting tangled up in a pair of discarded pants, forcing Jiraiya to fall down, hitting his head on the chair.

"Ow! My nose!" the old pervert sat up rubbing his face. "Fine , I get it. Hope you are laughing your ass off up there, Minato, with your redhead of a wife!" Jiraiya looked straight up. With a sigh he moved over to the window, but didn't climb out, just sat down and looked over the scenery. Naruto's apartment had one great thing about it, the view from the window was awesome.

"Hmm, a scene under the star filled sky. I am a genius." Jiraiya pulled out his notebook and began to write quickly. It was the first time in years since he took inspiration from anything else but the beautiful lady.

…

"Naruto, open up!" someone was banging on the door without much ceremonies. The blonde jumped up in his bed. He didn't remember getting back, but his sore body sure reminded him of the ride Gamabunta gave him. Good thing the exam finals were another five days away.

Rubbing his eyes Naruto went over to open the door. He blindly smacking against the wall, somewhat missing the doorway to the corridor.

"I am here, here. No need to tear my door down … ughh, hi Sakura-chan." Naruto grinned when he recognized his teammate, who looked at him with an annoyed expression.

"You were still asleep? At this hour?"

"Sorry, sorry. Pervy sage is a slave driver, but I now know some awesome techniques."

"Really? So he is really good as a teacher?" Sakura asked.

"If you don't mind him being a king among the perverts. He peeks on girls every time he gets a chance. I found out he writes that excuse for a book Kakashi-sensei reads."

"He writes that …. inappropriate piece of … literature?" Sakura had to stop herself a couple of times from saying something she would later feel sorry about.

"Yeah. He actually feels proud about it. But he knows his jutsu, I'll give him that."

"Well, as long as you are getting better. Listen, I went to the hospital yesterday, Lee should be allowed to have visitors today. I thought we'd go cheer him up."

"Bushy brows? Sure thing, he is alright. What about Sasuke, will he come?"

"He is not home, must be off training with Kakashi-sensei again. What about your own training with Jiraiya-sama?"

"Jiraiya-sama? Pfft, just call him pervy sage, it suits him more. As for training, he'll appreciate a chance to do his, so called research."

"Research? You mean he is researching ninja techniques or something?" Sakura wondered.

"He is researching women, less clothes the better. I'll just find him somewhere near the hot springs."

"That is so wrong, to think … wait ….. " Sakura suddenly realized something and grabbed Naruto by the collar pulling him closer. "Where was here yesterday around noon?"

"Noon? Err, he was busy tossing me down the canyon." Naruto replied surprised by Sakura's reaction.

"Oh, that's a relief, I went to the hot springs yesterday, to think that guy would …. you know." Sakura went a bit red.

"And I have to spend most of my day around him, how do you think I feel?"

"You of all people should get along fine around him, since you invented that perverted jutsu you used against him in the hospital."

"That is meant to be used against perverts!" Naruto objected.

"Whatever, lets go before the visiting hours are over."

"So, what have you been doing lately, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked as they walked towards the hospital.

"Eh? Nothing really. Helped my mother a few times, hanged out with Ino. Nothing interesting."

"What about ninja training?"

"I am not in the finals, Naruto." Sakura reminded her teammate.

"So? It doesn't mean you are no longer a ninja, does it?"

"Of course not, it is just that I have no sensei right now, nobody to teach me." Sakura actually was somewhat embarrassed when Naruto reminded her about her ninja duties. She really didn't take her ninja career all that seriously lately.

"Oh, yeah, forgot. Sorry Sakura-chan. But once the exams are over we will be training as a team again."

"Sure, that would be nice." Sakura smiled. With her teammates busy preparing for the exams she had little to do and was both bored and lonely.

The duo soon reached the hospital. They had to first find out what room Lee was in but before they reached the reception they ran into someone they were not expecting to see.

"Shikamaru, why are you here of all people?" Naruto asked the lazy Naru, who sighed and mumbled something resembling 'troublesome'.

"I am here to visit Chouji. That is what teammates do."

"Chouji, he is still in the hospital? I didn't know it was this serious." Sakura looked worried.

"Nah, he was fine three days after his fight in the preliminaries. He just ate too much BBQ yesterday and ended up here ….. again."

"Oh well it is nice of you to visit him then." Sakura smiled.

"I guess. Why are you two here by the way?"

"We heard that bushy brows is allowed to have visitors." Naruto explained with a grin.

"Troublesome. Fine, lets go, he is in the room just opposite of Chouji, I'll show you the way."

"Not much work since you would be going the same way anyway." Naruto said and Shikamaru sighed again. The went up to the third floor and down the corridor. Naruto hated hospitals and was sorry for anyone who had to be stuck in there. It looked too clean for him, smelled strange and had no ramen. Everything else could be excused, but not having ramen was a crime in his book.

"There, this is his room. Hn, seems he already has …. visitors." Shikamaru saw a very familiar figure next to Lee's bed. Sand was wrapped around the bed and knowing Gaara's abilities, it would only take a moment for him to crush Lee along with the bed. Shikamaru instantly unleashed his shadow possession jutsu, preventing Gaara from moving.

"You bastard. You already won against him, let it go." Naruto growled. Sakura was desperately trying to figure what to do in this situation, but for now could only silently back up Naruto and Shikamaru. She was unarmed and could really do very little against the sand shinobi.

"His death will serve a purpose of proving my existence." Gaara slowly turned around, proving that even Shikamaru could not hold him.

"You kill to prove your own existence? What sick logic is that?" Naruto growled.

"One can only really feel alive, when his existence is at stake, when he has a chance to rob another of his life, to prove his own right to exist. By killing those who oppose me only can I feel truly alive. He was a dangerous opponent, his death will help me prove might right to exist." Gaara spoke in a low monotone, that sent shivers down Sakura's spine.

"Then you should be worried." Shikamaru decided to bluff. "Neither me or Naruto demonstrated our true abilities in the preliminaries."

"Crushing ants under my feet does not prove my existence. Move away, or I will break you." Gaara spoke, not intimidated in the slightest.

"Really now." Naruto growled. The attitude of the sand genin was making his blood boil. "Care to say that in my face?"

Gaara's eyes widened when he saw Naruto's eyes turn red. He was giving off an aura of primal rage, that made Shikamaru and Sakura stare at the blond, for a moment forgetting about Gaara. But the menacing aura was directed at the sand genin, who took a small step back, the sand around Lee's bed moving back and floating in mid air around Gaara. This feeling, Gaara didn't understand it. It was unfamiliar, new, but then again, he sort of knew what it was. Fear. But why? Why was he, Gaara of the sand, so afraid of the blonde genin in front of him. Why did the gaze of those red eyes pierce his very being, why did something inside of him shiver, turn small and crawl back in the farthest corner of his soul. Why for the first time in his life, did he feel, like prey. Like a rabbit cornered by the fox. No escape, no chance, only inevitable end.

Gaara closed his eyes taking a deep breath, calming down. The sand that swirled around him in a protective manner was partially pulled back in his gourd.

"Uzumaki Naruto. When time comes, you will make me feel truly alive." Gaara spoke and disappeared in a swirl of sand. The moment he left the atmosphere eased up and Naruto's body relaxed.

"Quick check on Lee." Sakura rushed to the bed relieved that Lee was breathing steadily and that there was nothing wrong with him.

"Good thing we came by." Shikamaru sat on a nearby chair. He tried using as much chakra as he could to hold Gaara, but the sand genin was a powerhouse, that was able to easily break out of his hold.

"So, how is he?" Naruto asked.

"He seems fine. That guy didn't have time to do anything harmful." Sakura said and looked up at her teammate. "Naruto, how …. "

"I guess he knows when he faces an awesome ninja, huh." Naruto grinned boastfully and Sakura nodded not knowing what to think. What on earth was Jiraiya teaching her teammate. His aura, his presence, a moment ago it gave off the same menacing vibe as in the Forest of Death, when he opposed Orochimaru. Only now it wasn't a mass of rage and anger that washed over the area. It was directed, controlled. It was an invisible, but very clear threat that everyone present understood. 'Back away, or I will rip you apart.'

…..

Neji stopped spinning. The area around him was littered with a variety of weapons that his teammate had launched at him. It was a rain of razor sharp metal, but Neji's technique deflected every single attack. Nobody taught it to him, but that was unnecessary. He could observe, watch and figure things out by himself. Juuken came naturally to him, he understood it on a deeper level than most in his clan. It wasn't just in his blood, it was something more.

"Again." Neji said, sliding back into juuken stance.

"Again? I am running out of weapons already." Tenten objected. But Neji looked up sharply at her and she complied.

Tenten pulled out another scroll, while mumbling something angrily. A moment later her scroll began producing weapons at an amazing speed, while she began bombarding her teammate.

"Kaiten!" Neji began spinning, releasing chakra from all of his tenketsu and creating a dome of spinning chakra around him, deflecting all of the attacks. It didn't matter what direction they came from, the result was the same. The weapons that could easily slice through flesh simply bounced off the spinning dome of chakra, helplessly falling around.

Even though Tenten was somewhat annoyed she couldn't help but be impressed by the skill of her teammate. He was deadly in hand to hand combat, but with his new technique he also had an impressive, all but impenetrable defense at his disposal.

"Alright I am out. Until I gather all of these and reseal them in the scrolls I won't be able to continue." Tenten declared once Neji stopped spinning. He nodded without saying a word and after a moment began helping her gather the weapons. After all she was helping him to train.

"You sure are training hard before the finals." Tenten commented. "Worried about your opponent?"

"No, Naruto does not concern me. The outcome of our match is quite clear and I see no need to worry about it."

"Then why push yourself so hard?"

"I always train hard, you know that. Such is my role in this world, as it was decided."

"Yeah, yeah. Heard that already. But still, Naruto did surprise everyone during the preliminaries. Maybe he will be more of a challenge than you think."

"Doubtful. Inuzuka lost because of his arrogance and inability to see the obvious. His arrogance was his downfall, I will not repeat his mistakes."

"You sound pretty arrogant right now if you ask me." Tenten unrolled a scroll in front of a pile of weapons and began resealing them.

"Do not mistake arrogance with an ability to see reality." Neji brought another pile of weapons, adding them to the pile in front of his teammate.

"Whatever you say." Tenten shrugged. She was also quite sure that Neji would win, but wasn't so sure that he would have such an easy time doing it. Naruto was simply so stubborn that she couldn't imagine him losing quickly.

"Ahh, my youthful students! A pleasure to see you training hard this fine day. But I have splendid news!" Gai appeared in the clearing.

"Every day I hope he will just say hi. I am wrong once again." Tenten rolled her eyes.

"What is it, sensei?" Neji asked.

"I have just received a message, that Lee is allowed to have visitors. So get ready to follow me and support our youthful comrade!" Gai smiled his bright smile and Tenten rolled her eyes.

"sensei, we'd love to go, but first I need to gather my gear." The weapon mistress explained.

"Yes, of course. I will aid you in your task and if we will not be finished in ten minutes I will walk all the way to the hospital on my hands!"

"Why me?" Tenten rubbed her face imagining walking next to her sensei through the village while he was trying to complete his own ridiculous task. In order for that not to happen she began resealing weapon as quickly as she could.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The arena resembled a giant bee hive with all the people moving around, trying to find their seats. The fights between ninjas were always a spectacle, but it was very rare that one could observe them, without being in danger. Thus it was of no surprise that the arena was filled with audience, especially considering the list of participants. But if the civilians came to enjoy the show, those who sat in the well guarded section around the central building came for other reasons. Those were heads of the clans, representatives from major merchant guilds, members of nobility, other figures with significant power in their hands. They would judge the strength of the villages participating, by observing the performance of their younger generation. It could influence the amounts of mission requests the village would receive and that in return would influence the amount of money and funding the village would get. And finally the finals of the chunin exams were a fine chance for those interested to try and make a bet on one of the participants.

"Look, they are coming out." Ino clapped when the participants began appearing in the arena below. Hayate who was once more the proctor of the exams lined them up, facing the balcony where the Hokage sat along with his colleague from the sand village.

"Alright … cough … this is the final stage of the exam. The rules are ….. cough ….. the same as in the preliminaries. So if I stop the fight, you stop … cough ….. fighting. Got it?" Hayate for a moment glanced at Neji who didn't react in any way, even though he obviously noticed that. "All except the first two participants, move to the observation balcony."

"Good luck, Sasuke-kun!" Ino waved, standing up in her spot when she Sasuke moved towards the entrance leading to the staircase up to the observation balcony for the genin. He didn't hear Ino though, the noise from the crowd made that impossible. Neither did he hear Sakura, who entered into an argument with Ino over who had the right to wish him luck. Even if he did hear that, he would not have paid any attention. Right now he was looking at Gaara, who was slowly walking in front of him.

Naruto in the mean time was facing Neji, openly glaring at the young Hyuga.

"You both remember the ….. cough ….. rules?"

Both genin nodded and Hayate looked up at the audience for a moment. "The first match of the preliminaries, Uzumaki Naruto against Hyuga Neji. Begin!" Hayate jumped back, but the two genin didn't immediately engage in combat, instead they both seemed to inspect each other. Neji was the first to speak.

"Spare me the time and yourself the humiliation, Uzumaki. Just give up."

"Hah. You don't know me very well, do you? I am not into giving up. How about another offer. I pound you into the ground and then drag you over to Hinata and you will apologize to her." The girl in question suddenly went red, while watching the exchange. Kiba who sat next to her was also a bit surprised by what Naruto said and really hoped the blonde would beat Neji, even if it was unlikely. Then again it was unlikely that Naruto could beat him during the preliminary round, but here he was, sitting among the audience, while Naruto was down there in the arena. With Naruto around one should expect the unexpected and Kiba had a hunch that Neji would find that out the hard way.

"You still don't understand. Your bravado means noting. Your fate has already been sealed the moment you were born. You were born a failure, you are a failure and you will die a failure."

"So, that means you will die a jerk?" Naruto smirked.

"I tried to reason with you, Uzumaki, but as I though it is useless. I will teach you a lesson about reality."

"Yeah, about that, you can ask Iruka-sensei, I am not that good of a student. But let me tell you something, Neji, something I learned. Or better, let me show you."

"Then show me, Uzumaki, that is, if you will even be able to touch me. Byakugan!"

"Shadow clone jutsu!" around a dozen of clones appeared around Naruto, ready to charge Neji who slid into the usual juuken stance, waiting for Naruto to make the first move. He noticed that his Byakugan was unable to tell the difference between Naruto and his clones. Naruto himself remembered the fight in the preliminaries. He didn't exactly understand the explanation Kakashi gave them about how juuken worked, but he understood that Neji could seriously hurt him even by a gently touch. He also remembered that those eyes could see everything around him.

"Well, even if those eyes of his can see everything around, it doesn't mean that he has more than two arms." Naruto decided and his clones attacked from all directions. Neji began moving around, the clones disappearing one after another from his quick precise strikes. For now they didn't pose much of a threat, but then some of the clones began throwing shuriken and kunai at him. For Neji that wasn't much of a challenge as well, but he had to pay attention even to the clones in the distance, not a simple task considering the amount of copies Naruto kept creating.

"Ahh." Neji struck another clone and felt burning sensation on his forearm. He looked down and saw a thin, shallow cut. It wasn't even bleeding much, but it was there, left by a shuriken that was now stuck in the ground in front of him.

"I thought you said I would not be able to even touch you, Neji." Naruto mocked. Neji himself was a bit surprised, but then shook his head. Considering the amount of attacks Naruto unleashed it was quite possible that one slipped through the byakugan blind spot. It would not happen again.

"You can be happy over you insignificant achievement, it does not change anything."

"No it does." Naruto frowned. "It proves that you can be wrong."

"Only a fool like you would be happy over something like this. Come Uzumaki, I will show you, who among us is wrong." Neji charged at Naruto, but not surprisingly the clones jumped him trying to intercept his attack. They were all around him and would strike in a moment. It seemed like there was no escape for the Hyuga.

"Kaiten!" the numerous clones were thrown back, some that were closer disappearing almost immediately, others falling all around, before exploding in a puff of smoke. But more importantly there now was no more obstacles for Neji and he moved towards Naruto, aiming a strike to the chest.

"Gah!" Naruto gasped from pain and stumbled back. But Neji's satisfied smirk disappeared when Naruto he struck exploded in another puff of smoke.

"Another clone? Then he … I see." Neji turned around. There was only one remaining Naruto in the arena and his was crouching down some distance away. "You were among the attacking clones, while one of them posed as the real you. Unfortunately you gained nothing out of your little charade, except prolonging this useless struggle."

"Damn, you talk big, Neji. But if you haven't noticed, you didn't achieve much as well, except revealing your trump card." Naruto said angrily. The Hyuga so had it coming by now.

"Well, well. Good strategy, Naruto." Kakashi commented lowering his little orange book. It was only then that Sakura noticed her sensei being present.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"Yo." Kakashi raised his hand in a greeting. "Interesting fight, isn't it."

"Umm, I guess, but I don't understand what is Naruto trying to achieve, Neji's advantage seems overwhelming if he can use that protective jutsu he just did."

"Well, Naruto seems to have decided on not getting close to Neji without a good reason, a wise choice considering his opponent. But I think what is more important, is that he uses his incredible talent at annoying people."

"Huh?" Ino looked at Kakashi. "Since when is that a good thing?"

"Neji is usually calm, collected, capable of correctly analyzing the situation. But Naruto is making him angry. He is not showing it, but one can see that Neji is frustrated, to him it seems as if Naruto mocks him. For Neji, to be mocked by someone he considers beneath him, is something worthy of retribution. But anger can make even the byakugan blind."

"Since when does Naruto think during battle?" Sakura turned back to her teammate. Naruto mostly just charged into the heat of things.

"Naruto is impulsive, but also very creative. Remember, he was behind the strategy to free me from Zabuza's jutsu, he thought ahead and hid the scroll during the exams, he managed to outsmart Kiba several times during their fight in the preliminaries. Sure, he is an idiot, but he is one of the smartest idiots I have ever seen. Unpredictable and stubborn too."

"Naruto? This world is going nuts." Ino shook her head turning back to the fight.

"Well, come on, Neji, you said I don't stand a chance, right? Then there is nothing for you to fear, why are you still over there?"

"You will learn to answer for your words." Neji attacked once more. Naruto again began creating clones, but they only slowed down Neji's advance, who made them disappear one after another. One of the clones flew over Naruto's head, before disappearing, leaving only a cloud of smoke behind.

"Juuken!" Neji threw two more clones again and appeared before the real Naruto, once more aiming a palm strike to the chest. The clones were Naruto's physical copies, thus they had the same reaction time as the original. He would not be able to avoid the strike.

"Huh?" Neji's hand stopped inches away from Naruto's chest, when Naruto grabbed his wrist with both hands. To Neji's surprise Naruto's grip was strong enough to actually hurt him and there was no moving away.

"Let go!" Neji slammed his other hand against Naruto's thigh, tearing up the muscles inside, earning a pained scream from Naruto, who still didn't let go. Instead Neji saw that all of the remaining clones charged at Neji.

"No spinning this time." Naruto glared and dropped down, wrapping his legs around Neji's feet, while still holding his hand. Neji immediately understood that Naruto had anchored him, preventing him from using kaiten and trapping him in a rather uncomfortable pose.

"Eat this!" one of the clones rammed his fist into Neji's face, just as Naruto finally released him. Neji flew back, right over several Naruto's sliding on the ground.

"Na-" a clone kicked Naji into the air.

"-Ru-" another clones sent him even higher.

"-To-" the final kick propelled Neji even higher into the air and Neji understood what was going to happen. He already saw another clone appear over him to send him crashing into the ground with a final powerful strike.

"Uzumaki barrage!"

"Kaiten!" Neji began spinning in mid air, throwing the clone away and avoiding the finishing move. A moment later Neji landed on his feet and slid back, scowling from the pain. He looked up and saw Naruto standing, favoring his right leg. Neji's single strike caused quite a bit of damage, but to think that the single strike came at such a high cost.

"Oh, so close." Sakura nearly jumped up. Kakashi himself was watching the fight with unmistakable interest.

"You struggle against your fate, Uzumaki Naruto. You try to oppose it." Neji looked at Naruto with slight irritation. "That is foolish. I remember, you boasted about becoming Hokage. No, not you. Those who become hokage are born with such a destiny. Others have other fates they must follow obediently. Those who try to oppose get crushed."

Naruto was silent listening to Neji, until his mouth curved into a smile. "So what? Destiny you say, I know no such thing. If you think I will be crushed ….. come here and prove it. Because I will not back away from my beliefs."

"Where have I heard something similar?" Neji shrugged and attacked once more. He was already used to Naruto's clones, he knew all his tricks, he knew he could and would end it. But the blonde deserved not just to be defeated, he would show him how useless it was to oppose him in the first place, to oppose his destiny.

"Kaiten!" Neji threw the last attacking clones away and moved towards Naruto, who had a hard time moving away with his injured leg. Neji suddenly slid into a much lower stance, preparing for his most powerful attack.

"That stance …. " Hiashi leaned closer, understanding what Neji was about to do. For Neji the world all but stopped, he could see everything around with perfect clarity, every little detail, including Naruto's tenketsu. He had his target.

"Eight trigrams sixty four palms!" Neji unleashed his attack, releasing a barrage of strike on Naruto, painfully blocking his tenketsu one after another at an alarming rate, until he delivered a double palm strike to Naruto's chest, sending the blonde flying back.

"This is the end I am afraid." Kakashi sighed. With all of his tenketsu blocked Naruto had no access to his massive chakra reserves and thus could not use his shadow clones.

"Proctor, finish this fight, he will not be getting up." Neji turned to Hayate, but the jounin never moved, just looked in Naruto's direction.

"Not …. getting up? Then …. what am I …. doing now?" Naruto slowly pulled himself up and glared at Neji, who frowned at his opponent's stubbornness.

"You don't learn, do you? You just can't accept your fate."

"You are like a broken record Neji, this is getting old."

"Indeed. I already explained, that everyone has his or her destiny. You, me, everyone." Neji slowly untied his forehead protector revealing a strange mark on his forehead. "See this, Uzumaki. This is the mark of my fate. The caged bird seal, it means that I will forever serve the main branch of the Hyuga clan, protect them, give up my life for them, even though that duty cost me my father. But such is my fate, Uzumaki Naruto and I must follow it."

Naruto watched the seal on Neji's forehead, somewhat understanding the older boy, but not accepting his views on the world.

"Heh, big deal."

"You do not know, what it means to have a seal, for your fate to be sealed from the moment you come into this world."

"No, I do. I know what that means, Neji, far better than you." Naruto smiled sadly and then began to laugh.

"You laugh? How dare you to laugh? Why do you laugh?" Neji demanded.

"It is funny. You speak about fate and yet you yourself, are fighting it."

"What are you blabbering about?"

"Your fate is to protect the main branch of the clan as you say, yet you nearly killed Hinata when you had the chance. I know why. Because you saw that she is braver than you, better. She admits her faults and tries to change and was willing to risk anything for that, even her life, by facing you. You are laughable, Hyuga Neji."

"Enough!" Neji charged forward, aiming for Naruto's heart to end it, but to his shock Naruto grabbed his wrist and pulled his arm away. Neji attempted to strike with his other hand, but the same happened, with Naruto easily spreading Neji's hand wide. All of a sudden, Naruto was releasing an aura that made Neji almost feel sick. Through his byakugan he saw that one after another the chakra points in Naruto's body began to open up as a massive amount of chakra flooded Naruto's chakra network. It was different from before, violent, wild. Naruto looked up at Neji and the young Hyuga gasped when he saw strange red eyes glaring at him with unmistakable anger.

"See Neji, you are not so special after all. Care to blame fate?" Naruto then head butted the taller boy in the mouth, but just as Neji's head shot back, Naruto delivered a knee to Neji gut, just before finally releasing Neji and smashing his fist into Neji's eye, sending the Hyuga flying back like a some broken doll.

"This can't be happening. Impossible." Tenten watched with wide eyes how Naruto was brutally overpowering someone who in her opinion was the most powerful genin present.

"Whe…. Where did that come from?" Neji began pulling himself up. That power, that aura and most of all that chakra. Wild, twisting, powerful energy. Was that even chakra? Neji had no time to think, as Naruto charged at him, ground exploding under his feet. To his shock Neji saw that Naruto's leg now worked normally, like it was never injured.

"Naruto? That really you, Naruto?" Sasuke was watching Naruto with shock. He knew Naruto was unpredictable, but this, it was like in the Forest of death, only more powerful, much more controlled. But what was it?

Sasuke suddenly felt something strange and looked to the side. Gaara stood there, watching the fight with a maniacal grin on his face.

"Yes, crush him Uzumaki Naruto, so that I will be able to face you and feel so much alive." Sasuke didn't know even how to react to that and just looked back at the fight.

Neji was retreating under the barrage of Naruto's strikes, he didn't even have time to properly counter attack and whatever damage he delivered, the blonde didn't seem to notice, juuken was as useless against him as it was against a concrete wall. Neji was just wasting his own chakra with every strike. Naruto suddenly jumped, and delivered a powerful spin kick. At the last moment Neji raised his hands to block and immediately felt sorry that he didn't duck under the strike instead. His bones all but broke from the impact and then he was thrown away with enough force to slam hard against the arena wall.

"Aghh." Neji moaned in pain, rolling over. He saw Naruto appear on the arena wall and kick off of it launching himself towards Neji like a rocket. The arena wall cracked from the power and Neji barely managed to push himself out of the way when the strike came. As in slow motion Neji saw how Naruto's fist sank into the ground, like it was made of butter and then the ground exploded from the force.

Neji once more was thrown away, landing some distance away. He began getting up and saw Naruto ran out of the large dust cloud his strike created.

"You are scared Neji!" The Hyuga heard the blond all but roar. "You should be, because you are a coward, hiding behind fate, unwilling to stand up and fight it. If you can't face yourself, how can you hope to beat me? You spit on dreams and hopes of others, you see them as pointless. I refuse to accept that. I will become Hokage!"

"Kaiten!" Neji barely managed to start his technique when Naruto moved forward. For a moment two forces fought for dominance, until Neji felt his barrier fail, but it did deflect Naruto's attack. The power threw both Naruto and Neji away. Neji flew through the air and slid on the ground after landing, digging a long trench. Naruto flew back spinning towards the arena wall, but disappeared in a puff of smoke before hitting it.

"A shadow clone, but when?" Hayate looked around and finally saw the real Naruto jump out of the dust cloud. He landed right over Neji, who no longer even had strength to move, just looked at Naruto with a shocked impression as he saw the rage and strange chakra disappear.

"Shadow clone jutsu. I should've guessed." Neji said looking at Naruto.

"Just so that you would know. I failed the genin graduation exam three times, because I wasn't able to do even a simple clone jutsu. But remember I told you I learned something?" Naruto grabbed Neji by his clothes pulling him closer, partially lifting off the ground. "I learned that there is no use blaming fate. You shape your fate, through pain and defeats, through grief and sorrow. You have to dig through a mountain of dirt before you find something of worth." Naruto let Neji go allowing him to slump down.

"Oh and one last thing." Naruto looked sharply at Neji and punched the young Hyuga prodigy. Neji closed his eyes for a moment when Naruto's fist made his face explode in pain. "Apologize to Hinata, or I will find you and break you, Hyuga Neji." Naruto's eyes flashed with red and Neji nodded slowly, blood streaming from his nose.

"That is enough." Hayate approached the two genin.

"No problem, I am done with him." Naruto stepped back slowly. Hayate looked over Neji and understood that the boy was not going anywhere by himself. He motioned for a medical team to come and turned to Naruto.

"The winner, Uzumaki Naruto."

For some time there was silence, but then someone began to clap. Despite being red as a tomato Hinata clapped, soon joined by Kiba and then by people around and soon the whole arena was clapping while Naruto stood there with as shocked expression.

"Yeah, way to go Naruto. That's my teammate. You showed him what team 7 is made of!" Sakura cheered.

"Quite a spectacle you gave everyone, Naruto." Kakashi smiled under his mask.

"Got to hand it to you, Naruto. You did something I wasn't sure was possible." Tenten clapped and nodded. He did far more than she expected.

Even the third Hokage clapped. He was wondering if it was Jiraiya who taught Naruto to control the fox's chakra at such a level. But more importantly was that he once more witnessed Naruto's determination and willpower. It was a sight to behold, to witness one overcome one obstacle after another despite anything life threw at him. To see that finally the whole village cheered for the outcast it once shunned.

"You were …. cough ….. fated to win today." Hayate crouched down next to the stretcher as the medics prepared to carry Neji away. "But his belief, was stronger….. cough ….. than fate and forced fate to change. You …. cough ….. lost before this battle even begun."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Father, how is this possible?" Hanabi looked at her father, who in deep thought. The girl didn't know what surprised her more. The fact that Neji lost, or the fact that the village cheered for the one who defeated him. It was strange. The Hyugas were the strongest of Konoha, her father instructed her to carefully observe the fight, but all she saw, was how Neji proved their clan most prized techniques utterly useless against the blonde shinobi. At one moment, when Neji's opponent unleashed that strange animalistic power, Hanabi barely fought down an urge to jump up and run away.

"Stay here, Hanabi, there is something I must do." Hiashi stood up and walked away. He quickly walked towards the medical wing, built under the arena's main structure. He didn't notice though, how his older daughter, who was clapping a moment ago, suddenly turned pale and sank down into her chair.

"Eh, Hinata? You alright?" Kiba turned to his teammate.

"I …. I don't know." Hinata turned to him, feeling incredibly weak.

"I knew you should've stayed at the hospital. The doctors said you are not completely healed. Come on, we need to get you out of here." Kiba helped Hinata stand up, supporting her weight and led her out of the stands. Hinata barely moved and their progress was painfully slow, until suddenly the girl fell down and began to cough out blood.

"Hinata!" Kiba kneeled in front of her with panic written all over his face. Akamaru who was riding on Kiba's head whined with concern. Kiba turned the girl over, but she was unconscious. The young Inuzuka knew next to nothing about medicine, especially when it came to heart injuries caused by juuken. He was about to run off looking for help when he noticed a dark figure standing over them. It was someone in a dark cloak, that hid most of the figure and an all too familiar mask. ANBU operative.

"Let me have a look." The ANBU crouched down. Green medical chakra appeared around ANBU's hand as he began to treat Hinata. Kiba watched in amazement how Hinata's breathing began steady, how color returned to her face, how the pained expression left her face, replaced by the one of peace.

"Whoah, you ANBU guys are awesome." Kiba grinned.

"She needs rest, but she will recover nicely." The ANBU never acknowledged the praise and spoke in a calm, emotionless tone, that perfectly suited his mysterious appearance. Neither of those present noticed someone observing the scene. From afar you could mistake him for some kind of elaborate decoration as his clothes were of almost the same color as the stone the support column was made of.

"So, there you are, Kabuto." The figure narrowed his eyes. The cloak and the mask made it almost impossible to recognize the spy, but that medical technique and the hand that used it. There was no mistaking it.

"Wait, what do you mean his scent is familiar. This guy is ANBU." Kiba turned to Akamaru who growled at the masked man in front of them.

"About that, I am afraid your partner is correct." A hand glowing with green medical chakra suddenly hit Kiba in the chest and the boy was out like a candle. Akamaru dropped over him when the imposter hit the puppy with two fingers, right in the neck.

"But it is not that you will warn anyone." Kabuto stood up, looking over his handy work. These genin were so insignificant that there was no use in killing them.

"Hmm?" Kabuto looked to the side, but the area was clear. He didn't see, or hear anything, just felt being watched for a fraction of a second. It was strange, but when you are a spy, you get used to being watched.

"Soon." The archer, who relocated onto the support beam right over Kabuto, whispered. He then slowly crept away. For a moment he glanced to the side and saw that the next fight was about to start. He recognized the Uchiha, facing the sand shinobi, Gaara of the sand, who had the reputation of a merciless killer.

The archer looked around carefully. He could see several figures in dark cloaks around the area, but there were too few to ensure the security of the arena. This made it seem like Konoha was not expecting an attack, like it was careless, when in reality it was like a predator. It looked harmless, it's fangs and claws hidden. The illusion of vulnerability was like a bait and soon enough the trap would be sprung and blood would flow in rivers, and lives would end. The smell of death and screams of wounded wold spread across the village hidden in the leaves. And by the end of it, some of the living will envy the dead. For in death peace will be found and all debts will be paid in full.

…..

"So, this is the sand I heard about." Sasuke watched as sand began to pour out of Gaara's gourd. Just a moment ago Hayate started the fight and Gaara did not hesitate to unleash his sand that now was floating around him in a protective manner, waiting for the Uchiha to attack and understand how pointless it would be.

"Uchiha Sasuke." Gaara spoke slowly. "You no longer interest me. I will crush you and face the one, whose death will prove the value of my existence. So come and be crushed into nothing."

Gaara's dismissal of his abilities made Sasuke's blood boil. But then again he couldn't blame Gaara for wanting to fight Naruto. Sasuke himself admitted, that the idea of fighting his teammate made him shake in anticipation. But first was Gaara and Sasuke had the means to make the sand ninja regret his words.

Back in the stand the audience silently waited for the actual fighting to begin, but just like in the last fight, the opponents were in no hurry to make the first move.

"Yes! I see that your student is ready to demonstrate his flames of youth!" Gai's voice rang.

"Hello, Gai." Kakashi raised his hand. "And hello, Lee. Nice to see you up and moving."

"These injuries shall not stop me from observing the demonstration of skills by my comrades." Lee declared, while supporting himself on the crouches. "But I must ask of the outcome of the match between Naruto and Neji."

"No offence, Lee, but Naruto pounded your jerk of a teammate silly." Sakura said turning to Lee, happy to see the fellow genin back on his feet.

"So, Naruto won?" Lee asked.

"Yeah. You can see him at the observation balcony." Kakashi looked to the side. Lee turned his head and indeed saw the blonde loudmouth leaning on the railing and yelling something.

"Heh good job Naruto." Lee nodded.

"Yes. It saddens me that my student was defeated by one of yours, but I will not deny the strength of your most youthful student, Kakashi. I agree to admit that this counts as a point in our eternal rivalry!"

"Huh, what was that Gai?"

"Kakashi! Not again! You and your attitude, I so hate it!" Gai pulled his hair glaring at Kakashi.

"Whoah, talk about him being a drama queen." Ino looked at Gai in amazement. He never understood how a jounin could be so emotional. Then again Gai was strange, as strange as one guy could get.

The whole scene naturally went unnoticed by Sasuke who observed Gaara, but the sand genin stood motionlessly. For a moment the last Uchiha began to wonder if Gaara even breathed.

"Fine, you wanted me, here I am." Sasuke charged. His first punch was blocked as was the second. He saw the sand begin to move around him and jumped into the air unleashing a handful of shuriken at Gaara. The ninja stars didn't do much, as Gaara's sand caught them and Gaara's palm curled into a fist, the sand crushing the weapons into several lumps of deformed metal, demonstrating the power he wielded.

Gaara seemed annoyed, he wasn't interested in this fight, he wanted to end it quickly. His sand shot forward, trying to box Sasuke in and then crush him, like all those that came before him. The Uchiha dodged as long as he could, but more and more tendrils of sand came his way as he was pushed back towards the arena wall. It seemed like there was no end to the sand and finally Sasuke felt his back press against the arena wall.

"Now die." Gaara raised his hand and the sand shot forward, striking with enough force to make the area tremble.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura jumped up in her seat, but then saw something that made her heart skip a beat. Sasuke appeared right behind Gaara, who slowly turned in shock, only for his face to meet with Sasuke's punch.

"Gah!" Gaara stumbled back, his sand armor withstood the punch, but he still felt it.

"Hiding behind your armor, it won't help you!" Sasuke moved in an amazing speed. It was now clear what Sasuke's tactic was. Most of Gaara's sand was concentrated on the other end of the arena and Gaara needed time to call it back and time was not something Sasuke was giving him, as he unleashed a barrage of punches at Gaara, the armor of sand crumbling away bit by bit.

"That speed, he is using my taijutsu!" Lee recognized his style.

"Yes Lee, but unlike you, Sasuke can not keep it up indefinitely." Kakashi explained. "His sharingan copied your style, but naturally did not build up his muscles to your level. It took us a whole month to allow him to move like that at least for a little while. Don't worry, even the sharingan can't replace years of training."

"It is still impressive." Lee nodded. Down below Sasuke saw how sand flew back, there was little time. He delivered another kick to Gaara's face and while Gaara was disoriented grabbed him by his clothes and threw him into the opposite direction, away from the sand. With the sand covering Gaara's body he was extremely heavy, but that also meant that he landed rather painfully. The gourd on Gaara's back shattered to bits as the sand genin landed, but he himself still seemed uninjured.

"Kakashi, we both know that Gaara's armor can withstand incredible amounts of punishment. Lee's style and speed might allow Sasuke to hold his own for a while, but what then?" Gai looked at his rival with concern.

"Just watch."

Sasuke was already breathing heavily. Moving like this was hard, his muscles protesting, but just a little bit longer. He did what he wanted to do, he separated Gaara from his sand, the sand genin was now most vulnerable, which meant it was time for the last attack.

Sasuke flashed through handseals and grabbed his wrist. He felt chakra gather, he felt it change and felt his hand tremble from the power he held in his palm. His face was illuminated by the blue light and the air was filled with the sound of chipping birds. It was ready and Sasuke charged.

"Kakashi, you didn't ….. " Gai looked at his rival.

"Like you have any room to talk Gai." Kakasi glanced at Lee. "Besides, Sasuke is quite capable of handling it."

"What the hell is that jutsu?" Ino opened her mouth, but Sasuke himself answered her question, finally reaching Gaara and thrusting his hand forward.

"CHIDORI! ONE THOUSAND BIRDS!"

Explosion shook the foundation of the arena, a dust cloud raised and everyone wondered how did it end, did Gaara survive such an attack or not.

"That was Kakashi-sensei's personal jutsu. Chidori." Sakura confirmed.

"A blade of lightning that is rumored to be capable of slicing through actual lightning itself." Gai commented and turned to Kakashi. "I hope you made a right choice teaching him such a jutsu."

The whole arena was silent, waiting for the dust cloud to settle. It seemed like the time slowed down to a painful crawl, but it never actually stopped.

"Look!" Sakura exclaimed. Gaara was floating on a small island of sand that was barely supporting his weight, while Sasuke had one arm stuck up to the elbow in the arena wall. The sand carried Gaara away, until it finally gave in and Gaara dropped down, holding his side. Sasuke with an effort ripped his hand out of the hole he created.

"I see." Kakashi sighed. "Gaara used the sand that made up his armor and created a floating platform to avoid the strike. But still he didn't avoid it completely."

Indeed Gaara slowly pulled himself up, his sand surrounding him once more. The sand genin pulled his hand away and saw something red. He looked down in shock and saw a deep long cut. Sasuke scored just a glancing blow, but even that caused enough damage. This was the most serious wound Gaara received ever.

"You spilled … my blood!" Gaara looked up at Sasuke. "You threaten my existence, Uchiha. I will not disappear, I will not allow it!" Gaara took a step forward, the sand rising behind him. Sasuke leaned on the wall, no longer capable of performing on the level he did, his body protesting loudly, his limbs threatening to fall off.

"I will soak my sand in your blood, Uchiha Sasuke. I will bleed you dry, I will crush the whole idea of you ever living. I will ….. " Gaara stopped, a shocked pained expression crawling over to his face. The sand behind him collapsed and Sasuke wondered what was going on. Gaara grabbed his head in pain and dropped to his knees.

"Yes, yes, I know. Death, blood. He will die, he will die. DIE!" sand enveloped Gaara, hiding him for a moment, but then the sand began to violently trash everything in it's way. It was a sand storm in the centre of the arena a sand storm that began ripping the ground apart and then something strange appeared out of it. Sasuke barely managed to jump out of the way. He slid on the ground and looked back. He managed to avoid something that looked like a long, thick clawed hand, or paw made of highly compressed sand. It was unlike anything Gaara used so far. The thing ripped a huge piece out of the arena wall and crushed it to bits. It move back, but then it stopped, trembled and fell apart. The sand storm also stopped and Sasuke saw Gaara down on his knees. He looked ready to pass out. With an effort Sasuke stood up, getting ready to defend himself, but it was unclear of Gaara would even be able to keep fighting. Sasuke took a careful step forward and saw something fall on his nose.

"Hn? A feather?" Sasuke felt something, he felt a bit sleepy. It was strange, he was tired, but not enough to fall asleep. It was a genjutsu, but a weak one, not strong enough to actually take effect on a trained ninja. But it wasn't Gaara, this was not his style.

Sasuke looked around and saw that the stands were incredibly quiet. The audience was quickly falling asleep right where they were sitting. Sasuke highly doubted this was a part of the exams. His doubts were further confirmed when Temari and Kankuro jumped down to the arena, pulling up Gaara and without another word moving away.

"What is going on?" Sasuke ran up the arena wall to the genin observation balcony. He saw Shikamu get up after a sharp kick from Temari and Naruto holding a piece of cloth Kankuro used to hide his puppet. Shino stood in the middle, with his bugs crawling back under his coat. The next moment two ninjas wearing forehead protectors with the symbol of the sound village burst into the balcony, with kunai ready to strike.

"Gah!" one of the sound ninjas flew back against the wall, while the second doubled in pain from the punch. Kakashi seemed to appear out of nowhere. With a quick motion his hand wrapped around the neck of the sound ninja and with a loud 'crack' it broke, the body falling limply to the floor.

"What is going on Kakashi?" Sasuke demanded.

"Invasion." was a short reply. "Exams are over. You four, I have a mission for you. Follow the sand genin team. Keep Gaara away from the village. Got it? Keep him away."

"What a drag." Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"I placed one of my tracker bugs on the puppet master of their team as he was supposed to be my opponent. I can track them." Shino said.

"Good, move, no time to waste."

"Wait, what about Sakura-chan?!" Naruto demanded.

"She will help evacuate civilians. Go, this is an order." Kakashi said and jumped off the balcony. Everywhere around the Konoha ninjas were engaged in bitter fighting with the members of both the sound and sand villages.

"Lets go, we have an order to carry out." Shino said.

"Fine by me. Gaara and I have an unfinished business to settle." Sasuke scowled and the four genin moved to the arena roof and followed Shino, who knew exactly where the sand team went. Behind them the arena and most of the village was turning into a giant war zone. And then something else happened. A purple barrier appeared on the roof of the arena central building, separating it from the rest of the battle.

The barrier was meant not only to prevent the third Hokage from escaping. No, it had another purpose, much more personal for Orochimaru, who discarded his disguise, no longer posing as the Kazekage. The sound four were at the corners of the barrier, keeping it up, while Orochimaru himself faced his old teacher. For a moment Orochimaru glanced to the side and with satisfaction saw a trio of ANBU operatives, helpless to do anything to help their hokage. Even if small it was audience and Orochimaru didn't mind that in the slightest. He was looking forward to showing this ninjas how he would crush the old shinobi before him and then he would enjoy the sight of this village in ruins, it's inhabitants slaughtered by the combined forces of both the sound and sand villages.

Orochimaru waited years for this day to come and he was looking forward to savoring every moment of it.

…

Tenten immediately identified the genjutsu and cancelled out the effects. It was simple, not really directed at the shinobi present, but the civilian audience around her was in blissful sleep, unaware of what was taking place around them.

"Of all the ….. what gives?" Tenten jumped up and just in time to avoid a strike from a sand ninja. But the sand ninjas were supposed to be their allies, why was she attacked? There was no time to think about it as another sand ninja appeared in front of her and sent her flying down with a quick punch to the chest. She slammed against a support column and slid down, gasping from pain. To make matters worse she came to the watch the matches, not to fight and was unarmed. She didn't have even a simple kunai.

"Gahh." Tenten grunted when she stopped a kick aimed to her face, by butting her hands in a cross shape. Training with her teammates came in handy, but she was not an expert when it came to taijutsu. She hit the sand ninja in the knee while his other leg was stretched, dropping him, but the second sand ninja immediately exploited the fact that she was defenseless and slammed her against the column once more. That forced out whatever air was left inside of her lungs. Pain surged through her back as the sand ninja grabbed her by the throat and pulled up, until her feet left the ground.

"Little bitch." The sand ninja who she kicked in the knee got up with a scowl. He glared at her and pulled out a kunai.

"Want to kill her?" the sand ninja that was holding her asked, his grip becoming tighter, cutting off the supply of oxygen. She desperately tried to think of a way out, but whatever could she do against two seasoned sand shinobi, while being unarmed and unprepared for combat.

"Oh yes." The sand ninja growled. She dared to kick him she was going to pay, dearly for humiliating him.

"Then do it quickly, we can't waste time with her. You hear me?" the sand ninja looked back at his partner and his eyes widened in shock. His comrade was standing with a surprised expression on his face and a white arrow stuck in his throat. He tried to say something and raised his hand, but then the strength left him. The weapon slid out of his fingers and the man dropped down unable to breath, unable to scream only feeling how the last bits of life left his body along with his blood.

"Argghhh!"

Tenten heard her captor scream in pain and then she fell down, air finally finding it's way into her body. She began to cough, but looked up, trying to figure what was going on. She saw the sand ninja screaming due to the white arrow that pierced his wrist. The second ninja was on the ground behind him, a pool of blood gathering under him and the surprised expression forever engraved on his face by death itself.

The sand ninja was looking around wildly, trying to spot whoever wounded him, but there was nobody around except the Konoha genin. He took a step back in attempt to retreat, but someone grabbed his shoulder. Before he could do anything a hand was pressed against his back and the next moment Tenten saw a thick white stake pierce all the way through his chest. It was a thick, but very sharp piece of bone, that now was coated in the blood of the sand shinobi, who was gasping for air, trying to delay the inevitable death. But whoever did that didn't want to wait, as he simply tossed the half dead ninja to the side, the body smashing through the railing and falling down to the arena, with the bone still stuck in the wound. If the sand ninja wasn't dead yet by then, he would without a doubt die from either the fall or the blood loss. But all those thoughts mattered little right now as Tenten watched the familiar form of the mysterious archer tower over her.

He was the same as he was when she faced him in the Forest of death, same grey outfit, the bow strapped to his back and the cloth mask hiding the lower part of his face. His eyes were also the same, cold, but without any malice. They seemed almost indifferent.

Tenten saw him crouch down and take the shuriken and kunai holsters from the dead sand ninja, but he didn't remove the arrow. Then to her shock he threw the weapons to her, the girl catching them on pure reflex.

"Come, I need your assistance."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"You need what?" Tenten was left completely confused by the archer's request. She didn't know what to even think of this guy, who just stood there waiting for an answer, as if he asked what was the time, or how to find a bathroom.

"Why on earth would I want to help you with anything?"

"It would be fruitful to move towards a mutual goal." The archer said and turned around. Tenten tried to follow his gaze and saw a strange purple barrier on the roof of the arena central building. She had no idea what exactly it was, or how it got there.

"What exactly are you planning?" Tenten attached the kunai and shuriken holsters after checking for the amount of weapons she now had. The sand ninjas came well prepared and she felt much more confident now that she had the gear she could use, even if the supply was nowhere near to the amounts she carried sealed up in her scrolls. Unfortunately her apartment was on the other end of the village, thus it was useless to even dream about getting her usual gear.

"Your Hokage is engaged in combat with Orochimaru."

"Too bad for him then, the Hokage is …. "

"Old." The archer finished for her, making her swallow whatever she wanted to say. "That barrier isolates their battle, prevents escape and unwanted interference. Your kage is at a disadvantage."

"So what do you suggest? Are you saying you know how to break through that barrier?"

"No. I am not aware if the means to take down that barrier exist. Even if they do, they are not at our disposal. But I know the mechanics of that barrier."

"So keep talking." Tenten listened carefully.

"I will not disclose any additional information until you confirm your willingness to provide assistance."

"How can I, if I don't know what you want to achieve, who you are and what are your motives."

"My motives are my own, but I can assure you, that I am not your enemy. If that was the case you would already be dead."

Tenten didn't know what to do. This guy was near to impossible to read, she knew almost nothing about him, but had to make a very hard decision. She didn't know the consequences of the options available to her and she didn't have time to sit around and think it over. But if she agreed, then perhaps she would be able to gain additional information, or stop the strange ninja should she confirm that his intentions are harmful for the village. Declining on the other hand would gain her nothing, except maybe a quick death.

"Why did you ask me?"

"Because I know that you can keep up."

Tenten looked curiously at the archer and nodded, admitting his logic. If she was able to pursue him in the Forest of death that also meant that she could keep up with his pace.

"Fine, I'll come with you, now talk."

"We need to get to the arena central building. Preferably as quickly as possible."

…

"They are unconscious." A sand chunin kneeled in front of two prone genin, with three of her partners standing nearby.

"Is that girl really a Hyuga?" one of the asked.

"No doubt and look, no seal on the forehead and she is young."

"To think we are this lucky, found a fortune on the ground. The kazekage will pay us a nice reward for her and I can't wait to rub it into the faces of those cloud nins that we managed to obtain the bloodline they failed to get so many times."

"What about the second one?"

"Seems like an Inuzuka, judging by those marking and the dog."

"Could be worth something too. Take them both." The sand chunin grabbed Hinata and pulled, but then fell down, screaming. The prone girl was nowhere in sight, unlike the chunin's severed arms.

"I …. cough … can't allow you to do that." Hayate lowered Hinata down and raised his sword, the blade already covered with the blood of the unfortunate sand chunin who was already passing out due to the blood loss.

"You bastard!" the remaining sand ninjas attacked, but their opponent proved to be a skillful swordsman, slowly retreating, but never leaving an opening his enemies could exploit. His sword was giving him superior reach and soon one of the sand ninjas stumbled back with a cut just over his knee. Hayate took a chance and slammed the hilt of his katana into the sand ninja's face, but before he could deliver a finishing blow he was attacked from the side, forced to go into a roll, avoiding several shuriken, one of which scored a glancing blow on his forearm.

"Wind style: decapitating scythe!"

Hayate ran up the wall and flipped over the razor sharp wave of air that sliced deep into the stone wall. He ended up behind the sand ninja and struck, slicing through his shoulder. With a scream his opponent stumbled forward, his hand hanging limply as the strike had nearly cut it off, slicing through the bone almost completely. He was saved when the remaining sand nin attacked Hayate forcing him back for a moment, despite blood streaming down his face from the blow he received earlier.

"Dance of the crescent moon!"

The sand ninja was helpless against the technique, he never saw Hayate dropping down from his blind spot and never even understood what cleaved him in half.

"Hm …. cough." Hayate covered his mouth looking around, but the last sand ninja disappeared. It wouldn't be hard to trail him using the bloody trail he left, but for now it was more important to get the genin to safety and alter find out what happened to them. From what Hayate overheard, the sand ninjas already found them unconscious.

The now armless sand ninja was still alive, his breathing shallow, but a pained expression still present on his face. With a sigh Hayate flipped his katana into a reverse grip and rammed the blade through the skull of his now defeated enemy, ending his suffering by granting the peace of death. After that he wiped the blade on the clothes of his foe and sheathed the weapon. The wound on his arm stung, but he wasn't paying it much attention as he picked up Kiba and Hinata and Akamaru.

"Hayate-san!"

The swordsman was about to jump away when he heard someone approaching. Hiashi Hyuga appeared, followed by two members of a medical team and a limping, bruised Neji, who had a scroll in his hand. Judging by the tight grip it was important.

"Hiashi Hyuga-sama. Your daughter seems unharmed …. cough …. but I know nothing about what happened to her or her …. cough ….. teammate."

"I see. Do you know anything about my younger daughter?"

"I saw two members of your clan take her away before any harm came to her, she should be in your clan complex by now."

"Very good." Hiashi didn't show his relief. He already showed enough emotion by revealing Neji the fateful choice his brother made years ago. "Hayate, you and I are to help fend off the attackers. Members of the medical team and Neji can transport my daughter and Inuzuka Kiba to the shelters, they are the closest safe location."

"Very well." Hayate nodded and handed the genin over to the medics while Neji took Akamaru. He was in no shape to fight, thanks to the beating Naruto gave him, but he could keep up and his byakugan could still warn them if the danger approached, so he followed the medics without any complaints after putting the scroll in his pouch.

"One of the sand ninjas I engaged escaped. He could still be near, but he is wounded." Hayate said once he and Hiashi were the only people left.

"I will locate him. If he is wounded he should still be in the range of my byakugan." Hiashi said and Hayate saw how the head of the Hyuga clan activated his bloodline.

….

The combined forces of the sand and sound ninjas began their assault on the hidden leaf village. It seemed like the attack came out of nowhere, meeting only weak resistance if any at all. A swift strike, aimed to tear up the Konoha forces, pin them down in the isolated pockets of resistance to eventually wipe out. Such an attack required speed and the combined armies moved towards the village centre, but even as they got farther and farther, the number of Konoha nins did not increase. They also gave ground after a quick skirmish or retreated without even trying to fight.

"Something is not right." A sand ninja with a vertical scar across his left cheek muttered.

"You think too much. We knew we'd take them by surprise, they don't know what to think." A sand kunoichi landed next to him. "Enjoy the massacre."

"There is no massacre. There is barely even any fighting and have you noticed? There are no civilians in the streets."

"Well, maybe they are hiding, civilians do that you know."

"No, something is wrong, I feel it with my guts and they are never wrong."

"Or maybe you just don't have any guts? Hm?"

"Shut your mouth. You know I never was a coward, but I also was never willing to loose my life in a pointless battle."

"Whatever. We have an order, so lets move." The kunoichi said as a wave of sound shinobi passed them even though their platoon was supposed to be behind them.

"Oh, what a smart sand shinobi, he indeed has good guts." Anko appeared for a moment from the shadow in one of the alleys. "Too bad his guts will be all over the place, such a waste, such a waste." Strangely Anko's expression was not saying that she considered it a waste. If anything it seemed like she was looking forward to it, a strange smile crawling onto her face, a combination of cruelty and mischief. She slid back into the shadow, pressing a button on the small radio attached to her trenchcoat.

"They passed the second checkpoint."

On the other side Shikaku Nara nodded accepting the report. The Hokage made his take charge one of the battalions of Konoha shinobi that would engage in the counter attack. The role of his unit was especially important, as it was his job to cut off the escape route for the enemy forces and complete the encirclement. If the enemy forces had passed Anko's location that was the signal for him and his men to act. The plan was to move behind the enemy and wipe out their rearguard, cut off any communication and create disorder in the ranks and then stand firm, preventing any of those daring enough to attack Konoha from not paying the price for either their arrogance or treachery. One that would be done the main counter attack would begin. Two large formations of Konoha shinobi would attack from two sides, their attack spearheaded by four squads of ANBU, to cut through the enemy ranks and cause even more chaos.

If successful this strategy would turn the entire enemy army into a mindless mass without any order and plan or any hope of escape.

"Proceed with the first part of our attack." Shikaku ordered. "Try to capture one of their officers alive, Inoichi here would love to have a chat with him, dig around in his head and all that."

"You make me sound like some sort of sadist. I am not like Ibiki or Anko." Inoichi objected while his friend smirked.

"Relax Inoichi, you know Shikaku values your input. It was a while since we three had a chance to work together." Choza replied. The large man looked impressive in his full battle gear.

"Just keep it up Shikaku and I will mention that to your wife."

"Err, please don't, I have enough of her nagging me as it is." Shikaku looked away. It was the sad truth. He loved his wife dearly, but she was also one of the few people he actually feared. Being married was so much trouble sometimes.

….

"Anyone else coming?"

"We don't know, we were just put in charge of this group and told to lead them here, that is about it." Ino turned to Iruka who was at the entrance to one of the shelters. A large group of civilians had just went inside. Sakura noticed that she, Ino, Lee and Chouji were the only genin she knew that were present. She had no idea where everyone else was, but hoped they were not in danger.

"Fine, you did what you were told and that is what matters." Iruka nodded.

"Iruka-sensei, can you tell us about the situation, we know so little." Lee asked. Considering that he was barely able to move around he wasn't exactly guarding the civilians, as he himself was guarded, but he was still a shinobi of the village and that made others give him much more credit that they otherwise would.

"I can not tell you anything, it is classified." Iruka replied after a moment.

"Classified? Like hell it is, you knew this would happen. Otherwise Kakashi would not have come supplied with extra kunai and shuriken for us to use." Ino objected. The same thought crossed Sakura's mind, but she didn't voice it.

"Relax Ino, if the senior ninja knew, then things can't be that bad, it means there is a plan in motion." Chouji replied. This was one of the few times others saw him not munching on some kind of snack.

"Hey, is that true, Iruka-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"I won't confirm anything."

"But you won't deny either?"

"Heh. Enough for now, get inside. You are the shinobi of the village and duties come first. Maintain order inside and prevent anyone from leaving, by force of necessary." Iruka shook his head. His students were becoming harder and harder to keep in the dark. Eventually that would simply be impossible.

"Alright, be careful, Iruka-sensei." The genin moved inside, walking slowly allowing Lee to keep up. Others already knew that it was quite useless to tell the genin to take it easy. It was good enough that he wasn't trying to train in his condition.

Iruka watched them disappear inside and sighed. They were growing quickly. That was the burden of a teacher, to watch his students grow up. It was a reason to feel pride, but sometimes Iruka felt a bit sad about it. He missed the innocent smiles on their faces, the job of a shinobi left so little room for innocence. But it never meant that they couldn't be happy and Iruka wished them to find their way with all his heart, hoping that whatever role he played in their lives, it would aid them. He was their teacher after all and always would be.

….

The arena was huge, but only now Tenten understood how large it actually was. The archer moved around quickly and showed that he knew the layout of the inside facilities. This allowed them to avoid most of the engagements with the enemy shinobi and saved them time. Only once a sound shinobi appeared in the corridor. He deflected a barrage of shuriken Tenten threw at him, but that only served as a distraction as her unlikely companion ran forward. The sound ninja released some sort of a fire jutsu, not too powerful, but it was hard to dodge in the narrow corridor. Tenten dropped down, feeling the heat as the fire attack passed over her. She looked up and saw the archer running upside down on the ceiling until he was over the sound ninja. A moment later he dropped down, slamming the opponent to the ground and raised his hand.

Tenten watched with wide eyes as a white bone appeared from his palm and the nest second it was thrust down into the sound ninja's neck and left there. The archer quickly stood up and as he got up he pulled a white bone arrow out of his own hand.

"Ughh." Tenten was getting up as the arrow flew by, dropping another enemy nin who appeared from the other side of the corridor. He didn't expect anyone to be here and wanted to rest as he was wounded. But soon the deep cut on his shoulder was the least of his problems as the arrow hit him right beneath the heart. The sand ninja took a step back and slid down the wall, leaving a bloody trail behind. He was dead in a matter of moments.

"Get up, we must proceed."

"Yeah, sure." Tenten wasn't sure what to think. She never considered that those bone weapons came from his own body. A very weird ability and it looked painful, but he was clearly used to using it.

"This corridor should lead us inside the central building."

"What then?" Tenten jumped over the already dead sound ninja and ran after the archer. The area didn't have much light, but the white bow on his back was easy to spot.

"The barrier is created by four ninjas, each in charge of a focusing point for the barrier, four in total. Maintaining it requires them to pour chakra into the jutsu at a specific and continuous rate, which also requires them to be stationary."

"You want to take out those ninjas keeping the barrier up?"

"Unfortunately that is impossible. The jutsu is designed to keep them out of harms way, by shielding them with the same barrier. A direct assault on them would be suicidal."

"Then what, I can't see a way to take down that barrier, it seems that it has no weaknesses from what you say."

"It is an impressive jutsu." The archer admitted. "But now matter how impressive is the creation, it is just as weak as is it's foundation."

"I have desire to solve riddles." Tenten frowned, turning a corner running after the archer.

"They are on a roof of a building. The jutsu can not suspend them in mid air. They will be forced to drop it order to relocate."

"You want to make the whole building collapse? While the hokage is on the roof?"

"A kage level shinobi can hardly be killed by such thing. But it will allow others to come to his aid and will deprive Orochimaru of his advantage." The archer pulled out a pack of explosive notes and tossed them to Tenten.

"Blow it up?"

"You will destroy the supporting structure on the ground floor."

"Right, wait what do you mean I will destroy it? What about you?" the duo ran into a large hall just beneath building roof. To the side you could see a passage leading the kage observation balcony.

"I will be busy …." The archer suddenly shot an arrow in the direction of the balcony, but it stopped in mid, grabbed by an invisible hand. Tenten saw the genjutsu being lifted and a figure materialize, holding the arrow in front of a mask hiding the face. " ….. keeping him from stopping you."

"A thought I felt my skin crawl in a familiar way." The masked man said, dropping the arrow. "You were always able to keep yourself unnoticed."

"How fitting of you to wear a mask, you always do, Kabuto."

"Kabuto?" Tenten blinked. But that was the name of a genin that dropped out of the preliminary round, while this guy was dressed like and ANBU operative.

"Oh well, I guess I really don't need this silly thing anymore, now do I?" Kabuto slowly took of the mask, letting it fall down to the ground and then discarded the ANBU cloak.

"Go." Tenten heard an order. She glanced to the side, where was a passage to the staircase and dashed towards it. Kabuto went to intercept her, but stopped and leaned back avoiding an arrow that flew by hitting a wall on the opposite side of the room.

"Hmm, you know about the difference between our levels." Kabuto calmly turned to the archer who already had another arrow ready. "You never were and never will be able to come even close to the abilities and potential of a real Kaguya. You were such a disappointing failure and to think that we wasted so much effort on you." Kabuto smiled and readjusted his glasses. The archer didn't answer, just watched and Kabuto shook his head. "Ah, so silent. You know you won't be able to kill me."

"I don't need to kill you, just delay you."

"It is not like you, to cover someone's back, Toero." Kabuto shook his head and took a step forward, his hand glowing with chakra.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The arena was built on the edge of the village. There were many reasons for that. First of all such a structure was never intended in the original plan of the village and by the time the decision to build it was made, there was simply no room in the village centre. Another reason was that nobody actually wanted ninjas, even of the genin rank to battle in village centre. Sometimes the techniques demonstrated were quite destructive and dealing with the possible property damage would be far more trouble than it would be worth.

Now the location of the arena allowed the sand genin to quickly move towards the forested area around the village. The thick forests around Konoha were far more suitable for those who wanted to hide, or buy time.

"We are gaining on them." Shino spoke, kicking off another tree branch propelling himself through the air.

"Good." Sasuke nodded. He was already eager to continue his match with Gaara of the sand.

"Hey, don't think that I will just stand and watch you, teme. I am planning on punching that guy a couple of times myself."

"Hn. I guess you will be of aid." Sasuke smirked. Coming from him that almost sounded like a compliment, but Naruto didn't think so, sending a glare towards his teammate. Shikamaru sighed over the antics of the blonde shinobi and the fact that Kakashi sent him on this mission as well. He would be much more content with evacuating civilians and then just staying in the shelter. Too bad one could not gaze at the clouds from the shelter, but otherwise it would be almost perfect. No, instead he was doing his best to keep up with the loudmouth Naruto and his gloomy teammate.

"We will require a plan once we engage the sand team. Head on engagement might cost us dearly." Shino spoke once more.

"Plan?" Naruto turned to Shino.

"He is right dobe. Our strike should be swift, but not reckless, otherwise those sand genin will not hesitate to exploit any weaknesses we show. They are not pushovers, I'll give them that much." Sasuke grabbed a tree branch and flipped over to another in a graceful jump.

"Shikamaru-san, please suggest a logical course of action." Shino looked at the lazy Nara.

"What a drag." Shikamaru groaned.

"Him? Why Shikamaru?" Naruto raised his voice. Sasuke didn't say anything, but the same question also came to him mind.

"A combination of factors." Shino began to explain. "First of all, his performance in the second stage of the exam and the preliminaries proved that he was good with long term planning, capable of taking into consideration the area around him and analyze the information swiftly, planning out his whole fight. Second, I researched all of my potential opponents in the exam finals. Finally, he comes from a family that has a reputation for their ability to make complex, but nearly flawless tactical decisions on the field of battle. Taking all of the abovementioned into consideration I say that he is best suited to develop a plan for us to follow, which makes it logical that Kakashi also assigned him to our team, for he would not have sent someone without use on such an important assignment."

"So, Shikamaru is like super smart, right?" Naruto said after a moment of thought.

"Troublesome mission." Shikamaru sighed once more over how this day was turning out to be. He never wanted to participate in the exams in the first place and surely he didn't want to run after a very dangerous trio of sand ninjas.

"So, you have anything for us, Nara?" Sasuke turned to Shikamaru. He personally had no desire to follow orders of another genin, but Sasuke was also reasonable. Shino was very good at getting his point across. The young Uchiha had his doubts about Shikamaru's abilities, but he has already been proven wrong about the skills of others on more than one occasion.

"Tsk, alright. I really would rather be doing something else right now, but I guess I can't let the whole village down." Shikamaru looked up, the corners of his mouth curving upwards ever so slightly.

….

"Halt!" Neji and the two medics that carried Hinata and Kiba were immediately surrounded by several Konoha ninjas, who lowered their weapons the moment they recognized them.

"We've been sent here by Hyuga Hiashi." One of the medics said and they were allowed to proceed into the shelter. Neji stopped by the entrance and saw Iruka there, among the nins in charge of keeping this particular shelter safe.

"I would like to stay and make myself useful. My byakugan can warn you should anyone come close." Neji approached his academy teacher.

"Neji? Yes, sure, we could use a byakugan, but we have enough means to locate approaching enemies, while you don't look so good. Did you run into trouble?" The young Hyuga was walking with a slight limp and by the look of had trouble raising his hands. His face was also a nice mix of bruises, crowned with one hell of a black eye. In other words the young Hyuga looked like he went through a meat grinder.

"No, we got here without any complications."

"Then what ….. "

"I lost to Naruto during the exam finals." Neji spoke lowering his eyes. Iruka blinked a couple of times hearing that. He honestly was not expecting that Naruto would win his fight, though he honestly hoped he would. But it seemed that Naruto still had that talent of surprising others.

"Hm, well, in that case you should move inside, Neji. You had your share of fighting for today and I am sure you will be able to find something important to do." Iruka said. Neji nodded and turned to the entrance to the shelter.

"_Apologize to Hinata, or I will find you and break you, Hyuga Neji_." The words still rang in Neji's head. The blonde knucklehead proved his point, proved in a way Neji never thought possible. If Neji was proven wrong, there was only one thing he could do.

"Yes, I have something I need to do, Iruka-sensei. Thank you." Neji limped inside. One of the ninja guards in one of the corridors directed him towards the hospital wing. Inside it was already busy. Some of the injured have already arrived and the medics were busy trying to help them. A kunoichi was on the bed, her chest covered by bandages, that already showed a long bloody stain, most likely she suffered a deep slashing wound, but seemed to breath steadily. Then a chunin was brought in, his back full of kunai. Neji wondered how bad it would be later, after the battle. Still he easily found Hinata on a bed in the corner. All she and Kiba needed was rest, so nobody was around them. Since there were no chairs nearby, Neji with a grunt sat down against a wall to wait. The medics were running around, some already covered in blood and he could hear moans and screams of the wounded.

"Oh, it is you." Neji looked to the side and saw a familiar blonde girl. Ino was standing over him with a metal tray. "One of the medics saw you and sent me to look at you." She explained.

"My injuries have already been looked over and they will just require time to heal."

"Oh, good for you." Ino said sarcastically and suddenly slammed an icepack against Neji's face. Even though the young Hyuga didn't like the rough treatment, he welcomed the blissful chill that numbed the throbbing pain far better than any painkiller.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me, I don't like you, you are a jerk." Ino said and marched off. Neji's only visible eye blinked at the statement, before he leaned back with a sigh. Perhaps he deserved it. The day gave him very much to think about. His defeat, his father's choice, his view of life. He needed to think and right now was as good time as any to do it.

…..

"They have sent in their last reserves. The whole enemy army is inside the village." Inoichi said and released the sound ninja who was one of the officers in command of the rearguard. He was rendered unable to move, when his legs were broken after a wall collapsed over him. The attack was swift and the Konoha nins didn't hesitate to use explosive tags to scatter the enemies so that they could be taken down one by one. After all the buildings could be rebuilt, while replacing lost lives was a far more complicated process. Either way one such explosion took place inside a building and the unfortunate sound ninja didn't have the time to get away. He was first knocked down by some flying piece of debris, then a support beam landed on his legs and finally he was partially buried by the rubble. Soon after Inoichi was more than happy to explore the mind of his enemy for any useful information, not minding if he would cause any mental damage. They had no time for him to be gentle. Luckily the officer they caught was in charge of communication and naturally knew the state of things in the attacking armies.

"Hmm." Shikaku looked down over the body of the sound ninja. He was on his back with a blank expression and drool dripping down his chin. "Inoichi, why do you always tend to leave them in such a disturbing state?"

"This is disturbing?" Inoichi turned to his friend with outrage. "What do you call it when Choza steps on people?! I find squashed people far more disturbing than this."

"At least it is a quick death, unlike getting strangled by your own shadow." Choza commented. Shikaku didn't reply, instead looking up at the sun. It was past noon already, the sun was only going to get lower, which meant that the shadows were only going to get longer. There was no reason to wait any longer.

The shinobi around watched as the head of the Nara clan flashed through handseals and concentrated. His own shadow moved and gathered in a neat circle under his feet. Then tendrils of shadow shot in every direction, connecting his shadow to the shadows of the buildings, increasing his range. From there the shadows moved forward, connecting more and more shadows, until the whole area was like a giant net of shadow. Shikaku lowered down in a lotus position and several ANBU operatives formed a protective perimeter around him along with Inoichi and Choza.

"Web of a shadow spider jutsu ready." Shikaku said his hands still in a seal to maintain the jutsu. With his experience he could keep this up for several hours. Every enemy ninja that would step into the area would be in his range. With a jutsu this massive he could not hope to do anything more than stop them for about several minutes, otherwise he would quickly run out of chakra, but the job of eliminating the vulnerable enemy ninjas was not his task. That mission would be handled by numerous Konoha ninjas, who now formed a line that would prevent any of the attackers from escaping. The trap was finally set.

"Give the signal for the main attack to begin." Shikaku said and one of the ANBU saluted.

…

"Wh …. Who are you?" the sand ninja held up his kunai, though his hand was visibly trembling. He and two of his teammates were sent to check out this area for the enemy presence. Even the high commanders of the combined armies were getting concerned over the lack of substantial resistance to their advance. But the scouting mission was cut short when one of them suddenly fell down with a kunai rammed deep into his temple. That followed by a woman pouncing another sand ninja from behind, slamming him to the ground hard. She then pulled his head up back by the hair and with a practiced motion made a quick cut across the neck, maniacal grin appearing on her face when a fountain of blood erupted. She was now standing in front of the last remaining sand ninja, the same maniacal grin and a bloodied kunai in her hand.

"Don't come any closer." The sand shinobi yelled when she moved towards him.

"But how will I be able to kill you if you are way over there." The pouted.

"I mean it … I …. I …. " the ninja suddenly turned around and made a run for it. But before he could get anywhere far something wrapped around his feet and the ninja feel down with a scream.

"Stop screaming and get over here so you can bleed all over the place!" the ninja was dragged back by what looked like snakes, that came out of the sleeve of the maniacal Konoha kunoichi. She finished it quickly, stopping the annoying screaming. Just her luck that she ran into a coward, it took all fun out of the process. Though the sight of such panic was in a way appealing.

Anko was busy disposing of isolated groups of enemy ninjas. It was like hunting for her and the prey was of her favorite type. Too bad she couldn't afford to eat dango right now, but that could wait. She looked over the blood stained street, shrugging at the mess she left. It wasn't her job to clean up after all, so she prepared to go look for someone else to kill. Suddenly there was a flash somewhere above her. She looked up, noticing a fire jutsu sent into the sky. It was a long stream of fire that began to form something in mid air, until a giant burning symbol of the leaf village could be seen high above the village. Anko ran up the wall to the nearby roof in glee and laughed.

"About time you lazy ass!"

The sand and sound shinobi that currently moved through the village centre obviously also saw the giant symbol of the leaf and that was promised them nothing good. It suddenly became very quiet as everyone waited for something to happen. The attack came as it seemed out of nowhere. Groups of Konoha ninjas began to engage the sand and sound shinobi in bitter fighting. The Konoha nins came from hidden bunkers, from the basements after finally dropping the complex illusions, even from the sewers. Groups of Konoha ANBU were carving their way through the ranks with terrifying efficiency.

But the worst fears of the sand and sound shinobi came true when they saw movement atop the Hokage monument. A mass of Konoha shinobi gathered on the faces of the village leaders and then those shinobi with a battle cry began raining down, led by a man with long white hair. The counter attack was led by Jiraiya of the sannin.

…..

"It seems the traps you placed have been set off, Temari." Kankuro said when he heard explosions behind them. His sister caught up not so long ago after leaving a few presents in an attempt to try and slow down their pursuers.

"Lets just hope some of them got blown to bits then." Temari nodded. She didn't have time to make elaborate traps, instead trying to create an area that would become one big inferno after any of the traps was set off. It was a basic method of creating a chain reaction, one explosion initiating the next, eventually trapping the enemy in the series of violent detonations.

"Ghhhh." Gaara began to come around. That was good, all they needed to do was to buy more time, just a little bit more.

"You think a couple of explosions will stop us?" the sand genin looked back and saw a familiar blonde ninja with strange whisker marks yell at them. He was accompanied by three other genin from the exams.

"How did they get through that so quickly?" Temari gasped in disbelief. It was like her traps didn't do a thing to slow them down. With a scowl Temari grabbed her fan, allowing Kankuro to carry Gaara alone, while she provided cover. With a yell she released a wind wave at her foes, but the group scattered, taking refuge behind the trees, but the moment the danger passed they resumed the chase.

"Stubborn bastards!" Temari kept releasing an attack after an attack, keeping the Konoha genin at distance, but they didn't seem to get any closer, just kept her in their sights and kept their distance. But with having to constantly stop to release another wind attack Temari could not keep up with Kankuro, the gap between them slowly, but steadily increasing. That suited her perfectly, their mission was to protect Gaara and if these Konoha genin were concentrated on her, then that was all she needed.

With a grunt Temari swung her massive fan once more and smiled when she saw that the Uchiha actually didn't jump away in time. He was blown back like a leaf, spinning through the air until he slammed against the tree trunk …. and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"What?" That was a mere shadow clone, but only one ninja among them made those. Temari's eyes widened in realization and she spun around. She saw Kankuro in the distance and then suddenly he was tackled down by the Uchiha, dropping down to the ground along with Gaara.

"Gaara, Kankuro!" Temari folded her fan to rush to their aid, but found herself unable to move.

"You know, if one turned out to be a fake, that never meant that we all were." Temari recognized that lazy tone behind her. She didn't need to look down to see that she was caught in the shadow possession jutsu.

It was all so very clear now. Her traps were set off by the clones. The genin didn't need to avoid them, they simply used the clones to clear the path by setting off whatever traps she had placed. Then in order to separate her from her brothers they used the transformation jutsu, three clones posing as the originals, staying in her sight and forcing her to constantly keep her attention on them. The originals in the mean time ran on the ground under her, impossible for her to detect. And then when she thought she understood what happened the lazy Nara took the chance to capture her.

"So all this time you were among the clones, waiting for your chance?" Temari would kick herself for falling for this trap if she could.

"Correct." Shikamaru nodded.

"But you couldn't have gotten this close so fast. I kept you at distance."

"Look down." Shikamaru lowered his head, making Temari repeat his actions. Down on the branch below her stood another copy of Naruto.

"There is another on the ground and another behind me." Shikamaru explained.

"I see. You made that blonde loudmouth make extra clones and from what I see if you connect to their shadows it increases your range. They formed a chain of checkpoints, so that you could increase the range of your jutsu and catch me."

"Correct again. This all is so troublesome, really, but at least I won't have to hit a woman." Shikamaru shrugged, Temari forced to repeat that as well. She saw one of Naruto's clones appear in front of her, the one that posed as Shino before, ripping her fan out of her hand.

"You attacked my home." Even if this was just a clone, it held the same passion as Naruto and Temari was desperately trying to find a way out, but there was none. "I hate that! And I have no trouble hitting you for that, even if you are a girl!" the clone swung Temari's own fan like a club. Shikamaru released the jutsu just as the impact came. He winced when the blonde girl was thrown to the side, smashing against the trunk of another tree. She began falling down, crashing against a thick branch, and sliding off of it only to keep falling. She finally landed and the base of the tree and rolled to the side, Shikamaru and the clones landing around her.

"Tsk and who is stubborn?" Shikamaru noticed that despite the vicious strike Temari was still clinging onto consciousness. "Pass out already, it will be easier."

That was true. Not only did Temari bleed from the wound left on her head by her own fan, she also broke several ribs when she slammed against the branch and then broke her leg from the final rough landing, the limb now being bent at an unnatural angle. She slowly managed to turn her head when the clone that hit her dropped the fan next to her.

"Gaara … don't ….hurt … " Temari's head finally rolled to the side and she passed out.

"Women, they are so much trouble." Shikamaru shook his head.

"We better go help the boss." One of the clones said and Shikamaru ran off, followed by the clones. The soon ran into a clearing where Kankuro was doing his best to keep Shino, Sasuke and the real Naruto away from the weakened Gaara, who was down on his knees.

"Get him!" the clones ran past Shikamaru, who remained hidden, towards Kankuro who saw several more copies of the blonde ninja appear once more. He already destroyed over a dozen of these things, but at the cost of heavy damage to his puppet, courtesy of Sasuke and Shino. He already had serious trouble controlling his unorthodox weapon, Shino's bugs feasting on the chakra strings, but he was not about to give up as long as he could fight.

The charging clones were turned to clouds of smoke by a barrage of kunai the puppet released from it's mouth, but then it stopped, when Shikamaru caught the unsuspecting sand genin in his shadow possession jutsu.

"I am going!" Sasuke leaped over the immobilized puppet master, preparing to ram a kunai in Gaara's throat.

"Gah!" sand shot forward, stopping a kunai inches away from Gaara's face. The Uchiha watched as Gaara stood up, the sand's grip becoming tighter.

"Uchiha Sasuke. You still seek to end my existence. I will not allow that to be!" Gaara was about to crush Sasuke's hands when Naruto suddenly slammed himself into Gaara's back with enough force to throw the sand wielder back. Sasuke took the moment to break free and pull back.

"Ahh, Uzumaki Naruto. That attack, was weak. Show it to me. Show me the power that made eager to crush you!" Gaara's sand began gathering around him, forming something that looked like a new outer shell. Something that no longer looked human.

"Oh damn. We are all dead." Kankuro paled.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Kabuto was a perfect spy. He could fake anything, any emotion, any expression. He had perfect control of his body language, he had excellent control of his voice. He had patience few had and thus could keep up the act for weeks, month, years if that was necessary. Most of his life was a lie, crafted by others, by himself. He had no identity of his own, nothing he could really loose and thus he had no problem to assume an identity of another.

He could read another like a book, predict actions and act accordingly. In conversation he could slowly but steadily pull the information out without revealing anything himself. He could be a caring friend, an eager student or simply a nobody passing by. He had excellent memory, his mind a vault filled with information, secrets some would kill for.

But ability to assume any identity and play the role believably came at a price for such people held no attachments, had no loyalties. Their motives remained a mystery, sometimes even for themselves. It was a hard, perhaps even cursed existence in a world without any trust.

That was Kabuto. For Orochimaru his was an invaluable tool. A spy, saboteur, sometimes even an assassin, but also an assistant and a trained medical expert. The usefulness of such a tool at his disposal was well worth the risk of using something, that was so hard to actually control. But right now Kabuto had to rely on his other talents. His abilities as a spy would not help him against the one blocking his way. But even of Kabuto's main talents lied in another field, his had enough means to engage some of the most talented shinobi in a direct confrontation. He rarely did so, for it was unusual for anyone to see through his act, unless of course one knew what to look for.

Kabuto's hand glowed with chakra. This was a technique he used often, it was like second nature to him. The chakra scalpel. Originally the technique was developed by the medics to be used as an alternative for the standard surgical tool. With precise chakra control, a trained medical ninja could make cuts with precision that would never be matched by a crude metal tool. No longer one would need to cut skin, spread tissue to finally reach the needed spot, chakra scalpel was beyond those ancient methods. But as any tool, it all depended on how one used it. With the knowledge of the human anatomy as detailed as Kabuto's it was just a matter of seconds when he wanted to disable a limb by the means of this simple and elegant jutsu. Fast, precise and deadly.

It had only one drawback, Kabuto needed to touch his opponent. Toero was aiming at Kabuto, his arm pulling the sting of the bow almost to his ear. Kabuto knew the power of this weapon, the difficulty of mastering it. And the one standing in front of him was quite capable of using the full potential of such a weapon. Since Kabuto didn't have time to play around, he had to consider using drastic methods.

"Hn." Kabuto rolled to the side, the arrow barely missing his head. With a swift motion Kabuto threw a simple smoke bomb against the floor, hiding himself from sight. Toero carefully pulled back, creating more room while preparing another arrow. Now that he didn't know the exact location Kabuto would come from he would need an extra second to aim. He waited until he saw something move. Kabuto shot out of the smoke to the ceiling and ran forward. In mere moment he covered most of the distance between him and Toero.

"Gah!" the arrow struck true, while Kabuto was in mid air. There was no dodging or catching at such a close range. For a second it seemed like Kabuto was upon his target, dropping down, the next he was flying back from the force of impact. The arrow pierced the chest completely and Toero watched the already limp body fall down until his eyes narrowed.

"Tsk, figured it out." Kabuto frowned. In the last moment Toero spun around raising his bow, stopping the chakra scalpel just as it was about to slice open his throat.

"I know your habits, I should of guessed earlier." Toero spoke. Behind him the jutsu faded and the dead copy was revealed to be the body of the ANBU Kabuto killed to assume his identity. "You never leave a body, you never leave such obvious traces."

"Heh, you always did have an eye for details." Kabuto smirked. "But what done is done." Kabuto attacked with chakra scalpels activated on both his hands. His opponent was slowly retreating using his bow to deflect the most dangerous strikes. That was the only safe way to oppose Kabuto in close quarters, the bone that the bow was made of more than capable of withstanding any strike. Toero made no attempts to counter attack, just concentrated on defense and Kabuto realized that his opponent was buying time, prolonging the fight.

Kabuto once more tried to reach Toero's throat, but was blocked once more. That was expected and Kabuto used his elbow to slam the bow up, forcing Toero to raise it. Kabuto then grabbed the weapon with both hands and jumped, slamming both feet in Toero's chest, sending the young archer flying back, while Kabuto flipped back with the bow in his hands. Toero slid back once he landed, but then went into a roll and ended up in the crouching position facing Kabuto, who with a smirk used the chakra scalpel to cut the bow string and toss the weapon away.

Toero stood up, and slid into a taijutsu stance, preparing to fight and an amused smile crawled over Kaboto's face. He always found it strange and entertaining to watch others fight a hopeless battle, it was just unworthy of a shinobi, then again, he could admire determination. But this was not the time or place to think of these trivial things.

Toero dodged the first two strikes and went low to try and drop Kabuto with a leg sweep. The spy easily jumped over the attack, but his own strike missed as Toero dived forward landing on his hands and then pushing off the ground hard enough to reach the ceiling. Kabuto threw three kunai, followed by four more, trying to force Toero to come down, but his target proved skilled enough to avoid them. Kabuto jumped up, reaching for his foe, while Toero kicked off the ceiling, a bone sliding out of his palm. The speed was enough to reduce their figures to a blur for those with the eyes not trained to follow such movements.

After a clash both combatants landed a small distance away, facing away from each other.

"Well, you certainly didn't let yourself go. Your reflexes are as good as before." Kabuto turned around. There was a long nasty looking wound across his right cheek that ended just before reaching the ear. Toero also turned around, the bone still sticking out of his palm, no marred with blood. He looked down and took a step forward, but stumbled, his left leg no longer supporting him as well as it used to.

"You see, that is the difference between us." Kabuto spoke as his hand began to glow with green medical chakra. He moved his fingers along the injury that came to be when a glancing blow tore through his skin. The wound stopped bleeding and then began to disappear, until there was nothing left, except some blood that rolled down Kabuto's cheek and neck, staining his outfit with red.

"Unlike you, I can nullify any damage you can cause me. An unfair advantage, but we are shinobi, fair is not a word that should ever be used to describe us." Kabuto tilted his head, observing his opponent who just stood silently in front of him.

"How impressive. I was always surprised by the level of your pain tolerance. I bet you want to scream right now as I sliced through the muscles above your knee. You can barely move."

"Then come and finish it." Toero slid back into a stable taijutsu stance, though one could see the effort of moving. Kabuto shrugged and attacked once more. First he unleashed a barrage of shuriken. Since Toero could no longer move swiftly enough to dodge those, he had to deflect them, producing another bone stake from his other palm.

Even though Kabuto knew that he managed to greatly weaken his opponent, he still preferred to be cautious. For now he had enough time to do this without unnecessary risks. He attacked, but waited, luring Toero in, giving him a chance to attack and finally that attack came. Toero ducked under Kabuto's stretched hand aiming his bone weapon at Kabuto's side. Such a strike would pierce the liver and cause serious bleeding an injury that even Kabuto would need some time to heal.

"Caught." Kabuto suddenly grabbed the bone, pulling the strike away and sliding inside Toero's defense. Kabuto raised his hand to deliver a crippling blow and barely leaned back in time when a long white bone shot upwards right in front of his face coming from Toero's knee. Kabuto then saw his opponent grab the bone pole, pulling it out completely.

The spy stumbled back slightly as his opponent was now armed with a long bone spear, a weapon he was clearly familiar with. Kabuto frowned for the first time. Toero was surprisingly hard to overcome. Sure, he was fighting a loosing battle without any chance of actually winning, but if Kabuto wasted any more time he would be unable to stop the genin from correctly setting up the explosive tags and Toero knew that.

But Kabuto knew something else. Not being a real Kaguya his ability to create bone tissue was limited and was straining on his body. That was why he mostly created small weapons, arrows, bone stakes and such. Kabuto saw how much effort it took his opponent to keep up at this level.

The first attempt to approach was repelled. Kabuto narrowly avoided the sharp point, then blocked the strike from the main shaft of the polearm. Toero was using his weapon to keep Kabuto at distance, but the strain was showing and he was getting slower, finally allowing Kabuto to catch the spear with both hands and pull Toero forward. The bone user let go of the spear and launched himself forward, trying to grab Kabuto, but his cunning opponent twisted out of the way, dropping the weapon, allowing his opponent to helplessly fly by behind his back. Toero fell face down and rolled over getting up to one knee and managed to grab Kabuto's wrist just as his hand was inches away from his throat.

"Oh just … huh?" Kabuto looked over his shoulder and saw smoke rising. "Damn!"

It was so clear now. Toero managed to attach an explosive tag to Kabuto during the brief moment when Kabuto's back was turned to him. Kabuto needed to reach with his right hand to remove the tag, but it was held tight by his opponent. A suicidal tactic, they both would die in the explosion.

BOOM!

Two figures flew through the air slamming against the opposite wall with considerable force. Kabuto moved up quickly though. He used his left hand and the chakra scalpel to slice his shirt apart and then rip it off before the tag detonated. He barely managed to toss it away to the observation balcony when the blast finally came, throwing both him and his opponent away. For once Kabuto was pissed.

…..

"Hmm, I think I found the ninja you wounded, he is on the ground, but not too far. From what I can see he is dead." Hiashi spoke. To Hayate it looked like the head of the Hyuga clan was staring at a wall, but he knew that such barriers were of little concern for those with such sight. Walls were insignificant barriers for the wielder of the byakugan.

"That can't be right. I caused a seious injury, but not enough for him to day so quickly." Hayate shook his head. Something was not right.

"Perhaps blood loss."

"Not so severe as to cause death." Hayate said and coughed into his fist. He was right the blood trail leading away showed serious, but not life threatening bleeding. Hiashi was not pleased with some traitorous ninjas trying to steal his daughter and the clan bloodline. If anything that sand shinobi deserved death, but the origin of his demise was worth investigating. After all with the counter attack starting soon the enemy would not be getting any additional forces in the area of the arena. Thus they could afford to investigate it just in case.

Hayate followed the head of the Hyuga clan who easily navigated in the area having already memorized the layout after observing it through the byakugan. The found the body of the sand ninja with a white bone arrow in his chest, the obvious reason for his death.

"Again this …. cough …. thing." Hayate crouched down, his fingers trailing over the arrow shaft, but he never bothered pulling it out.

"This corridor leads to the arena central building." Hiashi spoke and walked forward noticing another body on the ground. Hayate saw a scorched mark on the wall, left by some rather low level fire jutsu and then walked over to the corpse. The cause of death was clear, a bone stake rammed through the throat, not a very clean, but quick and efficient way of making sure the enemy would never be getting up.

"It is that archer. No mistaking his weapons." Hayate walked up, looking over the body.

"No doubt." Hiashi agreed. "We should look into it, but proceed with caution." Hiashi stood up and the veins around his eyes bulged once more as he activated his byakugan. Both ninjas ran off running through the narrow corridor.

"What was that?" Hayate asked when he heard an explosion and slight vibration in the gorund.

"I think that archer is engaged in combat."

"Someone from Konoha?"

"No … " Hiashi concentrated harder, pushing the abilities of his byakugan to the maximum. "It is Kabuto!"

Hayate didn't say anything to that other than cough into his fist once more.

Kabuto in the mean time was shaking his head, getting rid of the ringing and scowled. He cursed himself for falling for that, but most of his ire was directed at the prone figure in front of him. Toero was only getting around, pushing himself up on his elbows.

Kabuto scowled and activated his chakra scalpel once more, not minding the mild burns and throbbing pain in his shoulder, he would take care of that later. Now he just needed to make sure that his opponent would remain down.

"Dance of the crescent moon."

"Gekko Hayate." Kabuto stated. He barely managed to spin around and stop the blade by trapping it between his palms. "It was my mistake to trust Baki to dispose of you. I must admit that I was quite surprised to see you today."

"And I will be the last thing you will see!" Hiashi dashed across the room towards Kabuto. The spy quickly pulled Hayate's sword to the side and jumped away. The tables have turned. A hyuga, especially on the level of Hiashi was a very uncomfortable opponent for Kabuto. His ability to heal relied on perfect chakra control. Juuken strikes would not only damage him from the inside, but also damage his chakra network around the injury, making it next to impossible to heal.

"Hiashi frowned." Stopping his charge when he saw Kabuto activate the chakra scalpels. For others it looked like Kabuto's hands glowed, but the one with the byakugan could clearly see how the chakra was shaped into razor sharp blades. To a degree the jutsu had some similarities with the juuken, but if the Hyuga relied on their ability to see chakra network, Kabuto relied on his detailed knowledge of human anatomy.

Still unlike Hiashi Kabuto was not a taijutsu master and had little chance in a prolonged fight with the head of the Hyuga clan. Hayate was an additional problem. The swordsman was slowly walking forward after glancing at the body of the dead ANBU on the ground and the discarded mask and cloak on the corner. He realized what happened after Kakashi's report came to his mind.

Both the swordsman and the Hyuga engaged the spy, quickly pushing back. Kabuto could barely keep Hiashi away and had already paid a price of two deep wounds left by Hayate. Still such wounds did not concern him, he just kept healing whatever wounds he suffered, but quickly began to run out of chakra. At this rate his defeat was only a matter of time, very little time.

"Gah!" Kabuto stumbled back, with an arrow sticking out of his side. This was bad. He could heal wounds, but not while the weapon was still deep in his flesh. The moment of hesitation did not go unpunished as Hayate smashed the hilt of his sword into Kabuto's face before kicking the spy under the knee dropping him down. Kabuto looked to the side and saw Toero on one knee, with his bow once more in his hand and a spare string still trembling after the shot.

"One wrong move and your head will roll." Kabuto felt the cold surface of the blade touch the skin under his chin. For a swordsman like Hayate it would be quite easy to behead Kabuto in his current position.

"Hiashi-sama, Hayate-san?" Ten appeared in the room, quite out of breath.

"You are the teammate of my cousin, what are you doing here?" Hiashi recognized the girl.

"I ….. whatever, we need to get out of here. In thirty seconds this whole building will start to collapse."

"What are you talking …. "

Hiashi never had the time to finish as the whole structure suddenly shook from a massive explosion downstairs. Kabuto took the moment of distraction and dive into the corridor Toero and Tenten originally came from. The building shook again now cracks began to appear on the walls, the building preparing to collapse under it's own weight. Hiashi who was about to run after Kabuto was forced to stop when part of the ceiling collapsed, cutting off that escape route.

"The observation balcony!" Toero stood up shakily and limped towards their only chance for escape.

"Move!" Hiashi ordered.

"What about him?" Tenten looked back as the archer looked barely able to stand.

"Got him!" Hayate slumped Toero over his shoulder in one brief motion and rushed to the balcony avoiding a piece of the ceiling collapsing. Hiashi practically threw Tenten out and leapt over the railing himself, followed by Hayate.

"Whoah!" Tenten screamed falling from such height, but managed to land more or less neatly, only going into a long roll and ending up on her back face up in the middle of the arena. Hiashi landed easily while Hayate grunted from the extra weight. Toero still held onto his bow and Hayate so didn't need anything adding to the weight he carried already.

"Shield yourself!" Hiashi yelled. He and the others present were hit by the wave of dust created once the building finally collapsed. Soon enough Hayate was not the only one coughing. Hiashi couldn't even use his byakugan, forced to keep his eyes closed from the dust.

The fighting around the arena all but stopped by that time, the Konoha jounin present managing to wipe out the enemy, but the destruction of the central building was a shock to most present.

"Hiashi-sama, what happened?" Kakashi landed in the middle of the arena, followed by fellow jounin when the dust settled somewhat, but unexpectedly Tenten was the one to answer.

"It was is plan to take down that barrier." She pointed at Toero who was once more down once more down on one knee, his other leg completely refusing to support his weight now.

"What about lord Hokage?" one of ANBU present turned to the ruins still covered by the dust. It seemed like a miracle that someone would be able to survive in there.

"Finally some of you idiots managed to find a way to take that blasted thing down. I don't care what you say you old monkey, the quality of your shinobi drops every time you have the need to summon me!" Enma dropped down among the gathered Konoha shinobi while supporting Hiruzen Sarutobi, who looked battered, bruised and tired.

"Thank you, my friend." Hiruzen rubbed his head. It was a good thing Enma's reaction were still as sharp as ever. Sadly the third Hokage could not say the same about himself.

"Don't thank me. We are in this mess because you were too soft. I told you to snap his neck when you had the chance." Enma paced around and then looked over the shinobi present. "What are you lot looking at, prepare to fight!"

"Did he use it?" Enma turned to a ninja that he was not familiar with. But it was quite clear what that ninja was referring to.

"Yes, the bastard did." Enma nodded.

"Who is this and what is he talking about?" Kurenai demanded, not liking being kept in the dark.

"You will see soon enough." Hiruzen sighed and looked towards the ruins. There the dust finally began to settle completely and they saw the unmistakable figure of Orochimaru, holding his prized sword. But what earned various expressions of shock were the two men that flanked the rogue ninja.

"We are not finished … sensei." Orochimaru raised his sword.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Die!" Gaara's new form roared as his clawed sand hands shot forward. The konoha genin were forced to scatter to avoid the attack that tore two trees down as it narrowly missed the targets. Kankuro who was once again free to move took the opportunity to get away. He knew what was going on, he knew that in this for Gaara would kill anyone in his path until he annihilated the one who caused such transformation. During such moment there was only one wise thing to do, run away and hope that Gaara will not follow.

"Hey, Shikamaru, got a plan for this?" Naruto yelled. Gaara had just shot a large sphere made of highly compressed sand at the blonde. It missed, but tore a piece out of a tree trunk, showing how powerful it was.

"Fire style: Fireball jutsu!" Sasuke leaped over Gaara, releasing his fire attack.

"Weak, so weak. I'll crush you all!" Gaara's maniacal voice came and tendrils of sand shot up, towards the airborne Sasuke. The Uchiha prepared for impact, but suddenly was snatched out of the air by a thick cloud of insects.

"It appears his new form gives him even a greater level of protection." Shino said as his bugs released Sasuke allowing him to drop on a tree branch next to the Aburame. "Fire based attacks lack the necessary power of penetration, they will do us no good."

"Naruto, give him targets!" Shikamaru called out. He was barely able to slow down Gaara when he was more or less calm, he doubted his shadow possession would do them any good here.

"You got it. Shadow clone jutsu!" The clones popped into existence around Gaara, charging the enraged sand genin, who began tearing the clones apart with terrifying efficiency, while Naruto kept sending his clones into suicidal attacks.

"Penetration you say? I can do that, but I have only one shot left." Sasuke said. Kakashi had warned Sasuke, that with the amount of chakra the young Uchiha had he should limit himself to two chidori a day.

"This is getting beyond troublesome." Shikamaru ran up the tree trunk with the sand chasing him until two of Naruto's clones threw themselves into the sand. They survived for only several seconds, but gave Shikamaru enough time to get away. He landed on a tree trunk right above Shino and Sasuke.

"Gaara already knows the power of chidori." Shikamaru looked down where Gaara was busy throwing Naruto's copies off himself. "The attack will have to come in several stages. Limit his awareness, immobilize, weaken the defense and then strike."

"Guys, you better think of something fast, because I can't keep this up forever!" Naruto was doing his best avoiding Gaara's attacks, creating clones and doing his best to keep the sand monster occupied.

Gaara noticed a shadow gathering under him and looked up. Shino was dropping down on him, kunai in hand, but before he got anywhere close Gaara's sand tail shot up wrapping around the Aburame and crushing him without hesitation.

"Rgaaghh!" Gaara roared in rage when Shino's crushed form exploded in a wave of insects blinding the creature of sand Gaara turned into. The buzzing insects made it nearly impossible to see or hear anything.

"Naruto, pin him down!" Shikamaru yelled. The Nara used his own shadow possession jutsu. There was little doubt that he would never be able to hold Gaara, but he could give his fellow genin an extra second of time.

Numerous Naruto's clones took the moment to launch themselves at Gaara, each with a kunai in each hand. They rammed the weapons into the compressed sand, so that Gaara no longer could throw them off as easily.

"Get off!" sand spikes shot out from Gaara's body, turning him into a walking porcupine. The move efficiently destroyed the clones but then Gaara saw smoke rising from the kunai hilts. Each had an explosive tag wrapped around it.

Gaara's enraged roar died in the sound of the massive explosion. The blast wave was powerful enough to tear down several trees, snapping the thick century old trunks like toothpicks.

"You …. how dare you?" Gaara was still standing in the middle of a crater left by the explosion. The damage his sand form suffered was massive as he had trouble to keep whatever was left in any kind of clear shape. The left clawed hand was partially torn off, the whole sand body looked ready to fall apart, the blast wave blowing away a good portion of the highly compressed sand.

"All that damage, but we didn't even injure him." Shikamaru shook his head.

"I'll remedy that!" Sasuke ran forward, the air getting filled with the sound of the thousand birds chipping. Gaara began rapidly restoring his body, but it was clear he would never manage to restore it completely in time.

"I will not disappear!" tendrils of sand suddenly shot out of the ground, trapping Sasuke and the next second he was blasted away by a piece of compressed sand. The Uchiha flew through the air, his hand still covered with lightning when suddenly he felt someone grab his feet.

"Naruto?" Sasuke saw his blonde teammate stick to the trunk of the nearest tree and spin him around, throwing back towards Gaara.

"Get back there and finish the job!" Naruto yelled, as the last Uchiha flew forward like a bullet. Gaara's half reformed body took a step back and the remaining clawed hand shot forward trying to stop the attack.

"CHIDORI!"

"Raaggaahhhh!" Gaara howled in pain. The lightning blade sliced right through the massive sand limb and reached flesh. The power of the jutsu blasted Gaara back, sending him into a roll, until he crashed into the massive root of a tree, leaving a sand trail behind.

"I … I am alright." Sasuke felt Shino help him get up. The Uchiha looked dead tired after performing the second chidori. He felt sharp throbbing pain from his shoulder, but forced himself not to pay any attention, the curse mark once more stopping any attempt to break the powerful seal.

"Damn, you missed teme." Naruto landed next to Sasuke who glared at his blonde teammate. But Naruto was right. That blow was supposed to finish it, but Gaara was clearly eager to continue. The sand began to cover him once more. For a moment they saw Gaara's injured hand, a deep cut going all the way from the elbow to the shoulder, but a moment later the sand again covered the flesh and Gaara was once more in the form of strange sand beast, with massive clawed hands and a dangerous looking tail.

"Your blood, give it to me!"

"Shut up!" Naruto yelled. "Who do you think you are, who gave you the right to kill just to feel alive?!"

"I am Gaara of the sand. My village made me into what I am. I am their weapon and their greatest fear. Their fear is so strong that they themselves tried to end me, but I proved my right to exist by spilling their blood staining my sand. I learned, that caring for anyone but yourself is just a pointless charade, a lie. I care and love only myself and crush all those who oppose me, for I will not allow them to threaten my existence."

"To hell with that crap! If you think that I will allow you to threaten my home and my friends, you have another thing coming!" Naruto took a step forward.

"You are a fool, Uzumaki Naruto. You gamble your life for others. You are weak. Let me prove it to you!"

Gaara sank the sand claws into the ground and the leaf genin felt it begin to tremble.

"Wh …. What is going on?" Naruto asked looking around. His question was answered when a thick tendril of sand shot out from the ground, quickly splitting into. One narrowly missed Shino and Sasuke, while another wrapped around Shikamaru's leg.

"Damn!" Shikamaru fell down and the sand began to lift him off the ground, spreading over his leg.

"Let him go!" Naruto grabbed Shikamaru's hand along with several of his copies, pulling the Nara down. Shikamaru screamed out in pain feeling like his leg was getting torn off, but suddenly the sand gave in and the clones threw Shikamaru away from danger. The lazy ninja landed hard on his side and rolled over. The sand cracked the bones in his leg and by the time Naruto pulled him out it was dislocated.

"Naruto!" Sasuke saw that his teammate and his squad of clones now were surrounded by waves of sand, swirling around them, cutting off any chance of escape. A moment later the sand washed over them in a massive wave and then was pulled away, revealing Gaara holding Naruto with his giant clawed paws.

"I will tear you apart and others will watch as I prove you wrong!"

"CHIDORI!"

Gaara roared once more as Sasuke sliced through both paws, forcing him to release Naruto. The blonde collapsed on the ground, while Gaara stumbled back, reforming his limbs.

"Too much ….. " Sasuke fell down to his knees, his whole body trembling from pain and exhaustion. "My body ….. can't …. move." Sasuke slumped down.

"Dissapear, Uchiha!" Gaara raised his sand paws preparing to crush the prone genin, when suddenly something struck him in the jaw. The sand covering his face cracked and then got blown away by the blow as Gaara flew back a small distance.

"You have gone too far, you sand freak!"

Sasuke managed to pull himself up and look at Naruto. That feeling, it was like during the battle with Neji. Naruto gave off an aura of primal, but controlled rage. Those around him felt like prey trapped in one cage with the predator, who for the moment was focused on someone else. Sasuke watched through his still active sharingan how Naruto took a threatening step forward, a low growl escaping his throat. Sasuke wasn't sure, but for a moment he noticed a dark shape hover over Naruto, like some strange beast.

With wide eyes Sasuke watched the bloodied and bruised knuckles on Naruto's hand heal. His teammate for a moment completely canceled out the murderous aura of the sand wielder, who was getting up, sand streaming from his face like blood.

"Come, I will help you to safety." Shino leaned over Sasuke, but the Uchiha pushed his hand away.

"Help the Nara. I will manage." Sasuke used the tree trunk as support to get up completely and watch his teammate face off against the sand monster alone.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Gaara's voice went even lower as he once more was the target of those red eyes.

….

Neji watched silently as the wounded came pouring in. The medics had their hands full, both ninjas and the civilians who were also busy helping in whatever way they could. The medical ninjas worked only on those who required urgent help, while the civilians handled simpler wounds. The problem was that when it came to large scale engagements between shinobi, the wounds greatly varied in nature and the medical staff had to be prepared to deal with just about anything that was thrown at them. Cutting, stabbing wounds, burns, crushed limbs, internal bleeding, poison, pain shock was just the list of the most common injuries.

The area was filled with screams and moans of the wounded and the nauseating smell of blood. If there was hell somewhere, it was here.

Neji sighed and pulled the ice bag away from his face. It melted almost completely and was of little use now, but it did create a numbing effect that made him forget about the throbbing pain in his face.

"Bwahh. Where is the bastard?!" Kiba shot up in his bed waking up finally. Akamaru that was on his chest slid down as his master sat up looking around wildly. "Whoah, was there an earthquake or something?" Kiba asked nobody in particular as he saw that he was in some place filled with injured people.

"War." Neji said from his spot by the wall. Only now Kiba saw the young Hyuga.

"Hey, you are a jerk who Naruto pummeled into the ground!"

"Will you people ever stop calling me that?" Neji snapped. This was getting annoying. First Naruto, then Ino, now the young Inuzuka. Sure, perhaps he was … wrong about some things, but that didn't gave them the right to call him a jerk.

"Why should we stop …. wait wait, wait, what do you mean war?" Kiba looked sharply at the Hyuga who sighed and shook his head.

"The village was attacked by the combined forces of the sound and sand villages. There is a battle above us."

"Then what are we sitting here for, we should be up there teaching those bastards a lesson. Right Akamaru? Hey, you alright buddy?"

"He was knocked out the same way as you, he will wake up when the time comes." Neji explained as Kiba looked over his partner.

"But I can't go to fight without Akamaru, we work together."

"Most genin were ordered to help with the evacuation of the wounded and then provide help in the shelters."

"What? I won't stay here while everyone is up there fighting!"

"There is no point in arguing, that was an order from our superiors. In the mean time, try to explain how come you and Hinata-sama were found unconscious?"

"That ANBU, who was not ANBU, healed Hinata and then knocked us out."

"Your story makes no sense what so ever." Neji fought down an urge to rub his temples. The Inuzuka was giving him a headache.

"Well that is what happened, what more do you want from me?"

"Details."

"Well, he as dressed as ANBU, as I said he healed Hinata when she began to feel bad due to the injuries you by the way caused." Kiba raised his voice glaring at Neji.

"That is beside the point."

" Maybe, but I am sure happy to see you with that lantern of a black eye."

"Just keep describing what occurred." Neji felt his headache increase.

"Well, Akamaru recognized the scent and then that guy just knocked me out like I was nothing."

"Most likely that was the enemy ninja. You calling for help due to Hinata-sama's injuries might have caused a bit of a ruckus. The enemy ninja decided to avoid such complications and healed Hinata to prevent you from causing unneeded noise. Your dog partner though nearly blew his cover and he was forced to knock you out."

"Yeah, I guess that is what happened." Kiba nodded.

"You kid, you alright?" one of the medics ran over to Kiba.

"Yeah, just woke up and ….. "

"Then move!" the medic shoved Kiba off the bed so fast that the Inuzuka barely managed to catch Akamaru.

"What gives?"

"Bring him here. Careful, there." The medics didn't pay any attention as they placed someone on the bed. The man's face and upper torso were covered in bandages and it was impossible to tell who it was, but he seemed to breathe steadily. The sight of an injured man made Kiba swallow any protests over the harsh treatment and take a seat next to Neji, leaning against the wall.

"Makes you feel kind of insignificant, huh." Kiba sighed.

"That is why we must live through it and become stronger, because soon we will not be able to allow ourselves be insignificant." Neji replied.

"Ughhh." Sakura walked up to them and simply slumped down against Hinata's bed.

"What happened to you, you weren't in the exams." Kiba looked over Sakura who was covered in blood and looked sick.

"This isn't my blood." Sakura spoke with her eyes closed.

"Then why do you look so pale and sick and …. Did you throw up?" Kiba's sensitive nose picked up the unpleasant odor.

"I just was forced to help bring in a woman who got disemboweled. Sue me for not holding onto my breakfast." Sakura raised her voice glaring at the Inuzuka.

"Sorry, sorry. Man I am so glad Hinata is a girl on my team, you must be driving your teammates nuts with that temper of yours."

"You don't like my temper huh?" Sakura glared.

"Please, all of you, just stay silent, it will be best for all of us." Neji spoke, his head was threatening to explode.

…..

"Yes, that is what I wanted to see, that is what I will crush. I will destroy Uzumaki Nar….. "

"Shut up!" Naruto seemed to punch air, but the simple gesture created a wave of energy that went forward pushing anything out of the way. Gaara's eyes widened before the impact. Part of the sand covering his body was blown away while he himself smashed through several trees before coming to a rough stop.

With a grunt and sand streaming off his body Gaara stood up and saw Naruto appear charging towards him along with four of his copies. Gaara raised his hands and shot a barrage of sand bullets at the approaching genin. One of the clones got hit in the head and disappeared, another got slammed in the chest and suffered the same fate.

"I am sick of your sand!" the real Naruto slammed his fist into the sand bullet that was about to hit him and the strike not only made the projectile explode into a small shower of sand, but also created a shockwave that pushed all the other sand bullets away, some even propelled back at Gaara. This was the first time in his life that he was attacked by his own sand.

"I won't let you …. !" Gaara's massive clawed hands shot forward, but the two remaining clones slammed themselves into them with enough force to actually push Gaara back, while the original leaped over them.

"Like I need your permission!" Naruto's fist smashed into Gaara's sand covered face and even through the powerful defense he felt the pain.

"You just don't get it!" Naruto kept pummeling Gaara's sand form not giving him even the slightest chance to recover.

"You won't achieve anything. You will never be anyone. Unless you have something, worth dying for!"

"I have only myself!" Gaara yelled trying to shield himself.

"You have nothing, unless there are those who accept you!" Naruto roared and slammed his fist into Gaara's sand covered gut. The force was enough to actually punch through and Gaara felt how the rough knuckles were rammed into his stomach. The next second Gaara was thrown back though the air, landing roughly, his sand body nearly completely destroyed.

"Damn I am tired." Naruto nearly fell over, but suddenly someone supported him.

"Sasuke?"

"You talk big, but look at you, barely able to stand."

"Like you are any different."

"Hn." Sasuke didn't say anything more until he looked in the direction of Gaara. "Think he is down for good?"

"Beats me, he is a stubborn bastard."

"I guess you have that much in common."

"You have no idea." Naruto frowned and then saw what he didn't expect to see. Gaara was getting up, but he wasn't looking at them, like he was concentrated on something else.

"Not like this. Not like this. I will not, not allow it. I WILL NOT LET YOU ERASE ME, UZUMAKI NARUTO!"

The ground exploded as massive amounts of sand appeared getting drawn to Gaara, enveloping him, lifting him into the air, forming something massive, something monstrous.

"Good work dobe, you made him grow bigger." Sasuke looked up at the massive form that was now towering over them.

"Then we get some big help." Naruto bit his thumb and went through the hand seals.

"Die!" An enormous paw appeared over Sasuke and Naruto, about to crush them.

"Summoning jutsu!"

The moving mountain of sand was knocked back when another giant appeared on the battlefield.

"We better move away, the radius of potential danger has just increased dramatically." Shino stated.

"No kidding." Shikamaru stated at the giant toad that just appeared out of nowhere, with Naruto and Sasuke standing atop of it.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"How is that possible?" Kurenai gasped. Even though the two figures flanking Orochimaru looked badly damaged, there was no trouble recognizing them. Right now just before their eyes the forms of the first two hokages were rapidly restoring themselves, nullifying any damage they suffered when the building collapsed.

"Ironically your own second Hokage is to blame." Toero spoke his eyes fixed on Orochimaru who calmly waited for his resurrected minions to finish restoring themselves. "The jutsu to bring back the dead at the cost of a human sacrifice. Orochimaru perfected the jutsu as the means of defeating his former mentor."

"This is bad." Kakashi slowly raised his forehead protector revealing the sharingan eye. When facing the shinobi of such caliber it was suicidal to hold back. "What do you know about that jutsu. How do we stop it."

"No matter how impressive is the creation it is only as strong as it's foundation."

Tenten recognized those words and frowned. She was not really into solving riddles of any kind, but kept silent. Last time her strange companion did not hesitate to explain his words. It was no different this time.

"Remember, they are puppets, robbed of their free will. They maintain the abilities they had in life, but lack free will. Engage Orochimaru, separate him from the resurrected kages and make him worry more about his own survival. I know no way of breaking his control over them, but without his instructions they will not be able to adapt to the constantly changing situation on the field of battle. They will merely continue to fight, but will lack creativity and the drive of someone alive."

"They power is still formidable." The third scowled. He found it incredibly hard to oppose his two teachers in a direct confrontation. He knew them better than most, but their skill and power could be matched by were few. It took all his skill to at least survive.

"What use is that if all the damage we do is useless. Look, there are restoring wounds that would've killed a normal person instantly." Kurenai exclaimed.

"We will seal them." The third decided and turned to Tenten. "This is not just an order from your kage, young one, but the plea of an old man, wishing to protect what he holds dead. My student, Jiraiya should currently be leading an attack against the enemy forces in the village centre. Locate him and bring him here. His knowledge of seals will be crucial."

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" Tenten nodded seriously. Not every day a genin could receive a mission of such importance from the Hokage himself. She ran up the arena wall and flipped onto the roof, quickly disappearing from view.

Orochimaru seemed to grow tired of waiting and waved his hand. Immediately four figures jumped out from their hiding spots among the rubble and ruins of the arena central building and charged towards the Konoha shinobi.

"The sound four." Toero tilted his head slightly.

"We will handle them, hokage-sama." The three ANBU present all walked forward and threw off their cloaks, no longer hiding their uniforms.

"Three against one is not that fair. Very well. I will even the odds." Toero got up with a grunt. There was a noticeable limp as he walked forward, but nobody made any move to stop him. Considering the situation any kind of help was welcome and even though nobody had any real reason to trust Toero, his latest actions the very least proved that he was no ally of Orochimaru's. For shinobi the rules were often simple. Be or be killed, show no emotion, rely on deception. An enemy of an enemy is a friend also worked.

The ANBU looked at the one who now stood next to them, preparing to meet the head on charge. He certainly stood out.

"Do not try to outlast them, it will cost you. Finish it if you get the chance." Toero pullecreated another arrow and pulled back the string of his bow aiming at the large frame of a man who most likely would be his opponent. For his style of fighting the larger the target was, the better.

"That is our job." One of the ANBU spoke. "To dispose of the enemies of the village without mercy, without hesitation." The ANBU charged forward. One pulled out a sword, his slash nearly costing Tayuya her head. The redhead snarled and cursed after she saw several strands of her hair land on the ground. She pulled out her flute, but the ANBU was not an opponent that would allow her to easily initiate any kind of jutsu. With a scowl she had to raise the musical instrument to block a powerful slash. Even though her flute was a musical instrument it was also a ninja tool and thus was made to withstand incredible amounts of punishment.

Behind Tayuya another ANBU rolled under a spider web Kidoumaru launched at his foe. The ANBU then engaged the sound ninja in a fierce taijutsu battle, pushing his opponent back, despite having to oppose eight limbs instead of four.

The last ANBU and his opponent after the initial clash went to fight somewhere in the interior of the still standing part of the arena.

"Hah." Jirobo despite his impressive size was quite nimble. He greatly relied on his taijutsu prowess and thus had good reactions, able to dodge, even if narrowly an arrow that otherwise would've pierced his left eye. But the message was clear. If Jirobo came any closer he would not have any time to dodge or deflect that arrow. It was like an invisible line the lay between the member of the sound four and his opponent. But the main events were unfolding in the centre of the arena. Orochimaru swung his sword the blade extending to an incredible length, but the slash that would've cleaved Asuma and Kurenai in half was stopped by the third himself who once more wielded Enma in his diamond hard staff form.

"Kakashi, Gai, Hayte engage the first hokage. Kurenai, Asuma, Hiashi, the second. I'll entertain my old student for now. Go!" The third ordered, as he opposed Orochimaru's blade.

"Get the old man!" Orochimaru ordered, but the resurrected kages were already engaged by their own powerful opponents. The Konoha ninjas efficiently tied the resurrected kages in bitter fighting, luring them away from the arena.

"Lets see how you will fare now, Orochimaru. A student against the master. Make no mistake, I will kill you if I get the chance!" Hiruzen despite his old age showed incredible speed and strength, unleashing a barrage of strikes that made Orochimaru scowl. He was quickly pushed back deep into the ruins behind him, unable to concentrate on anything else, but the swirling staff in the hands of his former teacher.

"It seems the situation changed, Jirobo." Toero glanced at the battle between the third hokage and the rogue ninja. The flurry of strikes, the lack of any unnecessary moves, sheer power was a sight to behold.

"Toero." Jirobo scowled. "You were trash from day one, a failed experiment, a sad mistake. I will help Orochimaru-sama, by erasing his mistake."

Jirobo clearly expected some kind of a reply, but Toero only shifted his weight slightly, once more favoring his injured limb. That did not go unnoticed by Jirobo, a tiny smirk appearing on his face. His opponent had an injury limiting his ability to move around. For Toero who preferred to fight at distance this was not that much of a problem unless the enemy got close. There was only one thing Jirobo needed to do. He had to force Toero to miss once more, after that it would be over quickly.

"Earth style: boulder missile!" Jirobo punched the ground and ripped out a chuck out of it, throwing it at Toero. In mid air it changed form to resemble a large spearhead. Toero kneeled down, the earth attack flying over him and pulled back the string and released the arrow, but Jirobo was expecting that. He gained a sudden burst of speed as triangular markings began to appear over his flesh. The large man had no desire to prolong this battle and if he had to use the curse seal, then that was the reason he was given this power. Orochimaru gave him the power to be his loyal subordinate, to use it for the benefit of is master. Crushing foes was a perfect example of how the power was meant to be used and he would use it.

The arrow missed by mere inches. Jirobo felt how it passed right next to his temple. But all it mattered now was to get to his opponent in time. Toero took a step back, but it was clear, that he would not be able to create another arrow in time and engaging Jirobo in melee while having limited mobility was the worst case scenario. Jirobo was the most physically fit of the sound four, capable of devastating short range attacks, combing his strength with his natural affinity to earth based ninjutsu. Blocking was not an option, dodging was impossible.

"Double crushing palm!" Jirobo roared jumping forward kicking off the ground with amazing force and slamming both hands down once Toero was in range. The attack made a shockwave go through the ground.

"What incredible power." One of the Anbu said. His multiarmed opponent just like himself barely remained standing when the ground trembled.

"Careful you walking barrel of lard!" Tayuya cursed having nearly allowed her opponent a chance to impale her with his sword. "Watch it when you squash other assholes!"

….

"Jiraiya, Jiraiya, would be great if I knew how he looked like!" Tenten was ranting while she ran through the streets of the village. Everywhere she went there was fighting with Konoha ninjas steadily pushing the enemy forces back. The encircled sand and sound ninja were forced to retreat, but soon or later there would be no more room behind their back. Even now the circle was getting tighter. The initial attempt to retreat the same way they came ended in a major disaster. Konoha ninjas prepared an ambush with shadows themselves holding sound and sand nins down, while the Konoha nins massacred the enemy without any mercy. If anything the catastrophic attempt to retreat and save at least part of the army resulted in utter chaos among the ranks of sand and sound ninjas.

"Oh damn!" Tenten jumped to the side when a body fell from above. Judging by the half melted forehead protector it was once a member of the sound village, who either fell victim of an explosive tag or, what was more likely, got hit by a high level fire jutsu. The sigh and smell together nearly made Tenten part with whatever she ate in the morning, but luckily she managed to force it down.

BOOM!

Something detonated inside one of the apartment building and Tenten got showered with piees of rubble and broken glass. The genin went rolling on the ground. She heard someone scream, but got up and went on running. She saw someone appear from inside one of the buildings, but luckily he was wearing a leaf forehead protector and a typical chunin vest.

"What are you doing here?" the chunin was a young man in his early twenties. His arm was bandaged up with a blood stain showing, but he didn't seem to care right now.

"I am looking …. behind you!"

Tenten's perfect aim saved the chunin's life. She threw two kunai, one from each hand. The first knocked out another kunai out of the air, while the second caught a sand ninja in the shoulder.

"You little …. " the sand ninja didn't finish as the Konoha chunin pounced him, stabbing the sand nin with a kunai repeatedly.

"Whaahhh …..!" two figures smashed through the nearby wall of a small clothes shop. Tenten with wide eyes watched how two sound nins flew across the street until both smashed through the wall of another building. She wondered what kind of force could've sent two grown men flying like that. Then through the large hole left in the wall a man with long white hair came out.

"Jiraiya-sama." The chunin stood up nodding to the famous ninja.

"Wait, you are Jiraiya?" Tenten gasped.

"The one and only, the great toad mountain sage is at your service." Jiraiya couldn't help but make a fancy introduction. "Hmm, what are you doing here, you should be helping evacuate the civilians or guarding shelters."

"No time, listen, the third Hokage sent me. He is fighting Orochimaru or what was his name. What is important is that the rogue ninja somehow resurrected the former hokages." Tenten talked so quickly she was out of breath in seconds.

"You sure?"

"What do you think?! I see their faces almost every day!" Tenten pointed at the hokage monument. She was in an exceptionally foul mood over what she saw in the village by the time she got here. She was tired, hurt and almost completely out of gear.

"Hn. Deliver my orders to the remaining officers in charge. Continue with the and keep methodically cleaning out the streets of the enemy."

"Yes, Jiraiya-sama." The chunin said and in a few jumps made it to the roof of a nearby building and disappeared.

"And you are coming with me." Jiraiya grabbed Tenten much to her charging and jumped up while biting his thumb.

….

The markings on Jirobo's face disappeared, getting pulled back into the curse seal as he breathed heavily. Releasing the curse mark did leave the user feeling empty, as the surge of power disappeared.

"Huh?" Jirobo looked surprised when the dust settled. His hands created a small crater, but it seemed that they hit nothing. But there was no time to dodge and Jirobo saw that Toero was injured. He simply had no chance to avoid the attack. Then why was there no body?

Jirobo stood up, pulling his hands up and saw something white partially covered by the dirt. It was one half on a bone arrow. The strike was so powerful that even this incredibly strong weapon was broken but if it was in place of it's creator that meant …..

"Ahh!" Jirobo's back arched as he spread his arms. He wanted to scream, but only a low moan escaped his mouth. It suddenly became hard to breath, hard to stand. He felt something flow down his back and understood that it was his own blood.

Jirobo managed to turn around and saw Toero standing in the distance, aiming his bow. He shot without a word, the arrow hitting Jirobo in the chest with enough force to throw the large man to the ground, ramming the arrow in his back even deeper into the body, until the tip appeared, piercing Jirobo's stomach.

"You … you used … substitution with your ….. arrow." Jirobo began coughing out blood.

"You forgot, Jirobo, I know your weaknesses. You would not hesitate to kill a wounded and cornered prey. But a thought of the prey simply luring you into a trap never crossed your mind. You made a classical mistake of underestimating your opponent." Toero pressed Jirobo down with knee as anger flashed in the eyes of the dying sound ninja. A bone stake slid out of Toero's palm and then he thrust it down, ramming it into Jirobo's throat.

"Kidoumaru, the fat mountain of shit just got himself killed!" Tayuya yelled, knocking her opponent back at the cost of cut on her arm.

"Whaahhh!" an ANBU operative flew into the arena. He flipped in mid air and landed on his feet sliding back stopping not far from Toero. The ANBU looked up revealing a crack in his mask. He also had a stabbing wound in his side that was bleeding badly.

"Tayuya, Kidoumaru, get up here, we need to regroup!" Ukon gave a barking order. He and his twin were both in their stage two curse seal forms, proof how far the ANBU had pushed them.

Kidoumaru immediately broke the fight and jumped up, spitting out a long line of webbing. He did that just in time as he managed to pull himself out of harms way as an arrow flew past him.

"Tsk, crafty." Toero shook his head and created another arrow. Tayuya in the mean time decided to also pull back. She threw a smoke bomb on the ground, getting a fraction of a second to jump back and then kick off the ground hard, propelling herself towards her teammates.

"What?" something long and sticky suddenly attached itself to Tayuya's side and the sound kunoichi was pulled away with getting a chance to even scream. Her feet disappeared inside the mouth of a very large toad that was sitting atop the arena roof, with two people standing next to it.

"Thanks." Jiraiya smirked as the toad burped loudly.

"Jiraiya-sama." The ANBU next to Toero gasped.

"Shit, we are a bit outclassed here." Kiduomaru shook his head.

"We retreat and wait, our deaths will be of little use for Orochimaru-sama." Ukon said once again merging with his brother. The remaining members of the sound four then began to run off.

"Don't pursue, they are just pawns and are of little importance." The ANBU that was fighting Tayuya raised his hand and sheathed his sword. "Lord Jiraiya, lord Hokage is engaging the traitor Orochimaru somewhere in the ruins.

"Understood." Jiraiya nodded and mounted the toad that leapt all the way across the arena, towards the rubble left after the massive explosion.

"Stand down, don't think about trying to escape." The ANBU surrounded Toero who sighed and put his bow on his back.

"In my current state an attempt to outrun you would be futile. I have no wish, nor means of escaping, but I also have no reason to think that you would trust my word."

"A wise decision. You may sit down." The ANBU said.

"Very well." Toero shrugged and without any ceremonies sat down on the body of Jirobo and looked up at the ANBU operative that suffered an injury fighting Ukon and Sakon. He never suspected a third hand appear out of his opponent's body. That surprise attack cost him dearly.

"Your bleeding will not stop without proper treatment."

"My injuries should no concern you. Until further orders by Hokage you are detained."

Toero didn't answer, just nodded.

"Let me look at that." Tenten made it down and approached the wounded ANBU. "I am no medic, but I know a bit about treating wound. Besides, that guy is right, it seems serious."

"I have no medical supplies." The ANBU replied.

"A good material as any." Tenten saw how Toero with a quick move ripped most of the shirt off Jirobo's body and threw at her. The girl eyed the material with distaste, but right now being picky wasn't an option. So she went to cut the shirt into strips with her last remaining kunai.

"You don't have respect for the dead?" an ANBU operative asked.

"I didn't respect him when he was alive. He didn't die in a way I could respect. I do not agree that anyone is worth respect just because he is dead."

"Hmm." The ANBU tilted his head to the side. It wasn't clear if he agreed with such reasoning or not, but he clearly accepted the answer. If anything it was honest and that worth something. The ground suddenly trembled once more. They couldn't see, but could feel that a battle far beyond their abilities was taking place right now.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The first hokage, Hashirama Senju, was almost a legend among shinobi. A man who had put an end to long lasting struggle between the Senju and the Uchiha clan. A man who was widely considered as one of the most powerful shinobi to ever live. And now, after death he was brought back to fight the people he once protected. The shinobi of the hidden leaf village.

"Konoha whirlwind!" the leaf ninjas lured the first hokage away from the arena into the now deserted streets of Konoha. Toero was right. Without Orochimaru's specific instructions they just kept fighting. No fear, no emotion, complete disregard for injuries. Now the first hokage acted more like a machine, a puppet, but he was still a ninja in the league of it's own.

Gai found his powerful kick blocked and the next second the resurrected form of Hashirama Senju swung the leaf jounin like a club, slamming him into Hayate who attacked from behind. Even after that Hashirama didn't let go and swung Gai once more, slamming the man into the ground.

"Fire style: mystical flame flower!" Kakashi began bombarding the first hokage with small fireball while standing on the roof of a nearby apartment building. For a short while Hashirama retreated under the barrage, but then ducked under a fireball and slammed his hands against the ground. Immediately thick tree roots erupted and in seconds reduced the whole section of the building to rubble.

"Hn." Kakashi grunted. He just slid down the surface of a nearby root to deliver a punch to Hashirama's face, but his strike was blocked and the next second a sharp kick sent him crashing into the rubble of the building.

"Dance of the crescent moon!"

Hashirama spun around a thick tree spike coming out of his sleeve and piercing Hayate, who turned into a small cloud of smoke while the original dropped down from the blind spot. Amazingly the first hokage managed to dodge that strike, only loosing a piece of his armor protecting his shoulder.

"Image of the rising sun!" Hayate positioned the sword in a way to reflect the sun rays into the eyes of the first hokage and attacked with a vicious strike removing one of Hashirama's wrists. The resurrected kage stumbled back, but obviously felt no pain. His hand immediately began to reconstruct, but he didn't wait for it, slamming his foot into the ground. Roots erupted binding Hayate to the ground while Hashirama raised his good hand. His fingers turned into thick wooden needles and were launched at Hayate, who had no chance to avoid them.

"Earth style: stone barrier!" Kakashi appeared creating a simple, but quite effective stone wall that protected him and Hayate who finally freed himself using his sword and leapt over the barrier, meeting with Hashirama in mid air.

"Gah!" Hayate flew back from a sharp kick, while Hashirama ripped the katana out of his hand. Kakashi barely managed to pull a kunai out in time to avoid loosing his head, but the strike was strong enough to force him down to one knee.

"Haahhh!" Gai dropped from above, landing a vicious axe kick onto Hashirama's left shoulder. A normal person most likely would've suffered a severe break, but the resurrected kage barely moved, instead slamming the hilt of the sword into Gai's face, drawing blood.

Hashirama spun around deflecting a barrage of shuriken Hayate threw at him using Hayate's own sword, but failed to see Kakashi sliding on the ground. A moment later the first hokage went rolling down on the ground. He quickly pushed off the ground and jumped back, but Gai was already upon him. The taijutsu master ducked under a slash and then grabbed Hashirama's wrist pulling him closer, only to deliver a powerful punch to Hashirama's chin, sending the kage into the air. Gai followed, grabbing the shoulders of his opponent and they both went falling down spinning.

"Primary lotus!"

"That won't …. cough ….. last long." Hayate picked up his sword again, after Hashirama dropped it due to Gai's punch.

"It takes three of us to just keep him occupied." Kakashi shook his head. Gai appeared from the dust cloud breathing heavily. Luckily his trained body could endure the strain of the primary lotus with relative ease.

"Damn." Kakashi looked back. Behind them a large tree grew up in the middle of the street. A moment later the trunk split in half and Hashirama stepped out, completely unharmed.

"Any ideas, Kakashi?"

"We don't have the means for taking him out, we can only try and prolong the battle for as long as possible."

Hashirama didn't give them a chance to say discuss the situation any longer. In less than a second the first hokage created two wood clones, one engaging Hayate, while the second getting into a taijutsu fight with Gai, leaving Kakashi to face the original.

Kakashi dashed to the side when wooden stakes began erupting from the ground, each large enough to kill the copy ninja slowly and painfully. To make matters worse vines appeared, trying to grab him. All in all it was just a matter of time before he would be caught.

Hayate had problems of his own. The wooden clone turned his hands into long dangerous looking spiked clubs, swinging them around with deadly speed. For a while Hayate could only dodge and block, until he figured out a pattern in the movement. With a calculated move the swordsman ducked under a strike, the blocked another one and delivered a kick to the chest of the wooden clone, knocking it back. Since the clone had it's hands turned into massive weapons his balance was off and once Hayate ruined it, it took too much time to regain stability. With a graceful overhead slash Hayate cleave the clone in half and almost instantly saw Kakashi appear, one of the halves of the clones replacing the masked jounin, getting strangled and impaled instead of him a small distance away.

"Raagghh!" Gai threw the second clone over his head, slamming it down and then smashed the head to bits with a strong punch.

Hashirama looked up and saw Hayate drop down with his sword pulled back, ready to impale the first hokage. The kage raised his hand, vines appearing from the ground in front of him, moving to intercept the swordsman, but when they tried to wrap around him, they passed right through him proving it to be an elaborate illusion.

"Rise of a morning star!" Hayate appeared from the ground behind Hashirama, slicing through his back with one well aimed strike. The first hokage stumbled forward and turned around, his hands forming the seals, but before he could complete the jutsu the air was filled with the sound of birds chipping.

"RAIKIRI!"

The first hokage was thrown back missing both hands beneath the elbow.

"Konoha whirlwind!" Gai appeared, slamming his foot into the face of the kage with enough force for the whole body to be launched to the side like a rocket, crashing some distance away and forming an impressive crater.

"Fire style: Fireball jutsu!" Kakashi released a giant fireball that created a blazing inferno around the area where Hashirama crashed. The leaf ninjas watched in silence as the fire raged, but then a figure walked out of the flames. Hashirama Senju's arms were once more almost completely restored, but right now the jutsu that brought him back to life was restoring his badly burned face.

"I don't know how long I will be able to keep up like …. cough ….. this." Hayate coughed into his fist. His was getting incredibly tired having used up most of his chakra. Kakashi was also rapidly using energy due to his sharingan. Only Gai seemed more or less fresh even after he performed the primary lotus. The physical shape the taijutsu master was in was indeed unmatched.

"Alright, prepare, here he comes." Kakashi saw Hashirama take as step forward while flashing through seals. Immediately several trees shot up from the ground, but what was far worse, was that all the leaves were suddenly ripped off of them and launched at the tree Konoha ninjas, like some kind of shuriken.

"Earth style: stone barrier!" Kakashi once more created cover for himself and his fellow ninjas, listening how the leaves bombarded their cover with incredible force. It was incredible that the first hokage could created such weapons and in such amounts.

CRASH!

The figure of the first hokage smashed right through the stone barrier, grabbing Kakashi who was in the middle and punching him repeatedly until throwing away. The copy ninja went spinning through the air until he crashed through the window of some building, then bounced off the floor and went through a wall ending up in someone's, now completely trashed, bathroom, water streaming over him from a busted pipe.

"Hsssss." Kakashi rubbed the back of his head, hissing from pain. With an effort he began pulling himself up, when saw something land on his shoulder. It was a tiny green toad, that looked him directly in the eyes.

…..

Orochimaru hated this. He planned this battle for a long time, but the whole idea greatly relied on that barrier. If his battle with his former sensei was separated from the rest of the engagements around, it would allow Orochimaru to keep his resurrected kages fighting their now very old student. Orochimaru designed a way to rob the resurrected ninjas of their free will, but that meant that they needed his instructions almost constantly. Now that the konoha shinobi had lured their former leaders away, Orochimaru was forced to fight Hiruzen one and one and in a fair battle the old shinobi proved to be more than a match.

Despite his old age Hiruzen Sarutobi fought with speed and strength unmatched by many younger shinobi. Enma was also causing enough trouble, making Orochimaru slowly retreat. More than once Orochimaru had suffered blows from the diamond hard staff and even though his grass cutter was able to leave shallow barely visible scratches on the surface, it was nowhere near the effect Orochimaru needed.

"Gah." Orochimaru gasped when a hairy paw appeared from the staff, grabbing his wrist. Without hesitation Sarutobi flipped, kicking the sword out of Orochimaru's hand. The beautiful blade flew through the air and landed somewhere in the rubble.

"Curse you senile old man. Why don't you just die already, instead of dragging your bones around?!" Orochimaru moved back and suddenly began spitting out snakes, most quickly moving towards Hiruzen.

"Enma!" Hiruzen threw his staff at Orochimaru. In mid air the staff turned back into the original form of the monkey king and tackled Orochimaru, both rolling on the ground. Hiruzen in the mean time jumped up and flashed through handseals.

"Fire style: royal phoenix!" A stream of flame turned into a crude shape of a beautiful bird that flew down and along the ground. The heat created was enough to turn the numerous snakes into ashes, as the phoenix flew up and finally disappeared.

"I will strangle you, Orochimaru!" Enma grabbed the neck of a pale ninja, his powerful paws ready to crush it. Sadly neither Enma, not Hiruzen saw how one of the snakes crawled over to where the grass cutter was and ate it, the blade completely disappearing inside the serpent before it itself disappeared in a puff of white smoke.

"Arggghhh!" Enma pulled back. For a moment it seemed that it was all over for the snake sannin, but then he opened his mouth and a snake appeared, producing the grass cutter. The blade went right through Enma's shoulder.

"Enma!" Hiruzen rushed to his long time friend and summon, but the monkey king was glaring at Orochimaru with clear hatred. The grass cutter was rammed into Enma's shoulder all the way to the hilt.

"You aren't diamond hard when you are in your original form, eh?" Orochimaru smirked. "Looks like you lost your prized weapon, sensei."

"Perhaps I won't be able to serve Hiruzen, but neither will this blade serve you!" Enma yelled. "Good luck, Hiruzen." Enma disappeared in a puff of smoke, taking the grass cutter along. Orochimaru's face twisted into that of unmasked rage as he realized that the monkey king robbed him of his sword.

"Fine, if I have to do it with my bare hands, so be it." Orochimaru looked at Hiruzen.

"Your crimes are catching up to you, Orochimaru. You gained too many enemies." Hiruzen was looking down, standing before his former apprentice.

"Oh, but right now it is only between you and me sensei. I will handle others in due time." Orochimaru shrugged. "Don't tell me that you still care for me. You were always too soft to be a real shinobi. You always lacked the ability to do what was necessary."

"I am the third Hokage of the hidden leaf village. I am willing to sacrifice my whole being to protect what I hold dear. If you threaten this village, then you have signed your own death sentence." Hiruzen looked up, his eyes lacking the usual warmth. Those were the eyes of a seasoned warrior ready to kill.

"Too many enemies Orochimaru. All that oppose you are my allies and sometimes they leave help in a most unpredictable way." Hiruzen slammed his hand down into the rubble and pulled out something. With shock Orochimaru realized that his former mentor was holding a long bone spear.

"Prepare, my foolish apprentice."

….

Back in the street Hahsirama summoned vines that pinned Gai against the half destroyed barrier Kakashi created earlier. That left Hayate one on one with the first hokage. The swordsman defended himself from the onslaught of strikes, even scoring several hits, but naturally the resurrected kage didn't even pay any attention to that minor damage. He finally managed to grab both Hayate's wrists and spread his hands. Hayate screamed out in pain when the pressure first made him drop his sword and then his bones finally gave in, snapping under the pressure. But even then the kage didn't let go of the now defeated ninja. A third wooden arm appeared from the kage's chest reaching for Hayate's throat.

"Hn." Kakashi appeared just in time to slam his elbow into the side of the kage, forcing him to release Hayate. The copy ninja then ducked under a punch, grabbing Hayate's discarded sword and the next second Hashirama's third wooden limb fell off. Kakashi moved forward and threw the katana at the first hokage, but the resurrected ninja once more proved to have excellent reflexes, leaning out of the way.

"Thanks, Kakashi!" Gai smiled. The katana had flown through the air and sliced through the vines holding Gai's left hand. The jounin then managed to rip the rest apart and free himself.

"Gai, we need to get the first hokage to the small fork in the road just down the street." Kakashi said while grabbing Hayate and jumping away. The swordsman had already passed out and perhaps it was for the better.

"You have something planned, Kakashi?"

"No time to explain, lets just get to it!" Kakashi lowered Hayate or a building roof, while Gai kept Hashirama busy.

"Got it!" Gai lashed out with a punch, but Hashirama caught it. Gai pulled back his other hand, but again his punch was stopped and the two ninjas began struggling for dominance. Suddenly the jounin began pushing the kage back, taking a step forward, the kage sliding back despite his best efforts. A moment later thick roots appeared from the ground, anchoring the first hokage to the ground. Gai grunted in effort, veins on his forehead bulging, his face slowly turning red.

"RGAAAAGGGHHH!" The first hokage was suddenly thrown back, the roots getting torn apart like ribbons. The leaf joanin was surrounded by an aura of power as he concentrated on his opponent that began getting up.

"HIDDEN LOTUS!" the ground exploded under Gai's feet as he launched himself towards the first hokage who didn't have any chance to react. The resurrected kage began flying from one side of the street to another and the walls of the buildings got trashed as Gai leapt after his opponent. He kept pounding the first hokage, his body not being able to reconstruct quickly enough due to the massive damage inflicted. Finally Gai sent the first hokage into the air and followed. With a roar the jounin slammed both his knee and elbow into the beaten up form of the first hokage, his armor all but destroyed.

The force of the strike sent Hashirama into the ground so hard that the nearby buildings lost all the remaining windows due to the shockwave.

"Ughhh." Gai collapsed down to his knees, his muscles nearly torn apart after he opened five of the inner gates. Right now Hashirama was at the bottom of a large crater left in the middle of the fork in the road Kakashi spoke of.

"No, you are not getting up!" Kakashi dropped from above, ramming Hayate's katana though the chest of the first hokage, pinning him to the ground and then jumping off. "Begin, while there is time!"

Only now Gai saw how three identical men appeared on the surrounding rooftops. There was no mistaking that long white hair and unorthodox outfit.

"Earth style: sealing sarcophagus!"

The ground trembled and pieces of earth were ripped out. They swirled around until forming a crude, but sturdy looking dome over the first hokage. The next moment it began sinking into the ground. Sounds of struggle came from inside, but the earth jutsu didn't allow the kage to escape. Finally it completely disappeared under ground.

"SEAL!" one of the white haired men jumped down and slammed his hand against the ground, just where the dome used to be. A large complex seal appeared, glowing with energy, until it all went quiet. The seal soon stopped glowing and the white haired man stood up, looking over his handy work.

"You came just in time, master Jiraiya." Kakashi said approaching the man. A small green toad crawled out of Kakashi's pocked and looked at the summoner.

"I did as asked." The toad spoke and then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Took some time to set up the seal, but it seems it worked. No reason to stay here any longer."

"Hmm, shadow clones." Kakashi sighed when Jiraiya's clones disappeared leaving the trademark white puffs of smoke. With some effort Kakashi lowered his forehead protector hiding his sharingan and slowly made his way over to Gai who was sitting on the ground, resting his back against the wall of a nearby building.

"You look a mess, Kakashi." Gai smirked.

"Most likely. I overused my sharingan again. I think I won't be moving from this spot for a while." Kakashi sighed. "Too bad we had to seal Hayate's sword along with the first hokage."

"He won't need it for a while considering both his arms got broken."

"True." Kakashi agreed.

"To think that we managed to hold our own against the first hokage. This proves, that our flames of youth shine brightly indeed." Gai grinned his bright smile.

"Huh?"

"Kakashi, again with the attitude?"

"No, sorry, Gai. It is just I remembered what that Toero said. The resurrected kages lacked all emotion, being little more than puppets. They had no drive, no desire to fight, no reason to want and beat us. I think that if we were truly their enemies, if they could fight us on their own free will, it would've been over far more quickly and not in our favor."

"Perhaps. But maybe that is the reason why we managed to hold our own, eh?"

"Perhaps." Kakashi nodded after a moment of thought. "Anyway, I think we did what they would want us to do." Kakashi looked up at the hokage monument that could be seen from their position.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Water is an amazing substance. Few think about it when they have a drink, some don't even remember that nearly three quarters of our body is simple water. If anything in the world represented life it was water. How little respected people had for something so important in their life. A gentle stream, a pleasant rain, it was all taken for granted. But when someone lacked water, he sought it with all his might, only to have that refreshing cold fluid roll down his throat, restoring his flesh and energy.

But water had another side. It could grant life and take it just as easily. Many men found their demise among the waves of the sea, killed by the merciless powers of nature. Ninjas long since learned to use that power for their own benefits, turning water into a weapon that demanded respect. Among those who used it, few could match up to Tobirama Senju, the second hokage of the hidden leaf village.

Back in his days he had reputation of a master of water based ninjutsu. He knew all the strengths and weaknesses that it had. Most of all he knew how flexible, adaptable water was. You could easily shape into almost anything, use it for nearly any purpose. No other element provide such an even amount of offence, defense and stealth capabilities. You could kill your enemy, trap him, torture him. To a degree your abilities were only limited by skill and by the imagination.

Even though the leaf ninjas managed to lure Tobirama away from the arena and separate him from his resurrected brother, that only gave them a slight hope of beating him. Facing the second hokage would've been an extremely complicated task even when he was alive, but now he was a walking corpse that could shrug off any damage he suffered.

"Water style: water dragon jutsu!" Asuma and Kurenai quickly jumped off a building roof and just in time. The enormous water serpent smashed right through the structure, with Tobirama senju riding atop of it. A master the level of the second hokage wasn't even that much limited by the lack of his direct access to water.

"Water style: cutting stream assault!" The water dragon changed form turning into a long narrow stream of water, swirling around the second hokage, who seemed to command it with his arms. The stream lashed out like an incredibly long whip towards Asuma who slashed through it with his trench knives. That did little good as Tobira continued his assault. Asuma defended himself, slowly retreating. Once he ducked under an attack and to his horror saw how the stream of water had cut through a building was as if it was made of paper.

"About time." Asuma breathed out in relief. It seemed that being resurrected meant that Tobirama relied on his senses just as any other person and thus could be trapped in an illusion. The second hokage suddenly found himself bound to a tree. Above him a woman with long raven hair appeared, her body slowly pulling itself out of the tree trunk.

"Release!"

Tobirama canceled out the powerful genjutsu with little effort. Kurenai was just about to slice through his throat when instead found herself staring into the blank eyes of the second hokage.

"Vacuum palm!" Kurenai was knocked over, but it was Tobirama who was the target and was thrown back, blown away by the Hyuga clan technique. Hiashi was standing in the middle of the street his byakugan active.

"Fire style: Fire detonation!" Asuma spat out a small ball of fire that flew towards Tobirama who was down on one knee. Just as it was about to hit the ball expanded and blew up, turning into a huge column of fire.

"Water style: ocean sanctuary!"

For all those present it looked as if the powerful fire technique got put out like a smile match. Tobirama was in the middle completely unharmed, surrounded by a thick wall of water.

"Water style: Water bomb barrage!"

"Kaiten!" Hiashi began spinning, creating a dome of chakra large enough to shield himself, Asuma and Kurenai, but even the head of the Hyuga clan grunted as the ultimate defense of the Hyugas barely withstood numerous hits by the water jutsu of such magnitude. Tobirama's jutsu compressed water into spheres that exploded upon impact with impressive force.

"Such power." Hiashi breathed heavily as he stopped spinning. The area was covered in puddles of water after the initial barrage, but Tobirama was nowhere in sight.

"Oh great, water clones." Asuma scowled. Indeed clones began rising from the puddles an in impressive numbers.

"Can your byakugan identify the original, water clones can't use ninjutsu." Kurenai asked looking around.

"Unlike shadow clones water clones do not have their own chakra network. They are merely masses of water held together by chakra, but I can't locate the second hokage among them.."

"No time to think about that." Asuma shook his head and then tossed a water clone over his head. The clones attacked and even though they had only one tenth of the original's strength they were still a serious threat. Asuma and Hiashi mostly handled the clones, reducing them to harmless puddles, while Kurenai stayed between then, providing support with her skills in genjutsu and occasionally a well aimed kunai to the clone's temple.

"Hiashi!" Kurenai called out when she suddenly saw a figure rise from one of the puddles. Tobirama had a long curved sword in his hand and the genjutsu mistress recognized the water sword technique. The blade looked nothing like the work of a fine craftsman, but it was still more than capable of cutting flesh and also restore any damage suffered for a mild cost of chakra from the user.

"Gah." Luckily the byakugan warned the head of the Hyuga clan about the attack from behind, but it never meant that he had time to avoid it completely. Hiashi stumbled back with a long, but shallow cut on his chest, his expensive robe already getting stained with blood.

Two clones grabbed the wounded Hyuga by his arms and held tight as Tobirama pulled the sword back preparing to pierce his opponent, but he never got the chance. Asuma managed to black the strike just in time, while Kurenai jumped over them, destroying one of the clones with a kick to the back of the head. Hiashi wasted no time using his freed hand to deliver a palm strike to the remaining clone, while Asuma held the second hokage away, their weapons in a lock.

"A water user, huh. I can respect that, but a sword, not the best idea against me." Asuma's knives began to glow and suddenly he had cut through the water sword with ease, his weapons moving even further.

"Tsk, damn, so much water can't even smoke." Asuma spat out his damp cigarette. The damage the second hokage suffered forced the remaining clones to collapse. But it was clear that the now beheaded Tobirama Senju was not going to stay down. His headless body began to rise, while the head began reforming out of dust and ashes.

"What twisted jutsu." Kurenai shook her head.

"You can say that again." Asuma took a careful step back. If anything he won them a minute to catch their breath.

"Vacuum palm!" Hiashi decided not to wait until Tobirama managed to fully reconstruct. But despite his head still only halfway regenerated the second hokage dodged the technique nad flashed through handseals.

"Water style: boiling geyser!"

"Move!" Asuma leaped to the side when a fountain of water erupted from the ground where was standing a moment ago. If steam was of any indication that water was boiling hot and getting hit by it would mean painful wound and potential death. The same started happening all around as the leaf ninjas were forced to run and dodged, cringing from pain whenever droplets of boiling hot water landed on their skin. Finally they made it to the roof.

"Water style: raging wave!" Tobirama jumped onto the roof and the nearby water tower exploded to pieces as a massive wave of water was sent towards the leaf ninjas.

"Wind style: great breakthrough!" Asuma created a powerful enough gust of wind to blow the water technique to the side.

Tobirama made a step forward, but the world suddenly flipped. Another illusion, a simpler one, but incredibly confusing.

"Release!" Once more the illusion was thrown off, but that little time Tobirama was trapped in it was all Hiashi needed to get close.

"Lord hokage. You are in the range of my divination. Eight trigrams: sixty four palms." Hiashi slid into a stance, preparing to unleash his technique.

"Two!" the first two strikes came.

"Four." The combination of strikes continued.

"Eight ….. what?" for the first time Hiashi saw someone interrupt the technique in the middle of the incredibly fast combination of strikes, but Tobirama had just grabbed both his wrists. It seemed that the strikes did nothing to cut the resurrected kage off his chakra supply.

"Now Asuma." Kurenai grabbed Hiashi, while her fellow jounin slammed himself into Tobirama's side. The force forced the second hokage to let the head of the Hyuga clan go as he was kept in palce by Kurenai's surprisingly strong grip. Both Asuma and Tobirama left falling down onto the streets below.

Somehow Asuma managed to position himself above the second hokage as they both finally came in contact with the ground. Tobirama took most of the damage, but unlike Asuma he didn't have to worry about such things. Before Asuma could even pull up any sort of defense he was thrown away with enough force to make him crash through the wall and end up on the second floor of a small inn.

"Man he is strong." Asuma rubbed his head when he saw Tobirama appear in the hole Asuma created when he crashed through.

"Juken!" Hiashi appeared behind his foe, both Tobirama with a swift kick sent the Hyuga flying back right into Kurenai, both falling down to the street.

"I don't care if you were once a great kage, right now you are just Orochimaru's pawn!" Asuma jumped up his trench knives blazing with wind chakra. He almost immediately scored a glancing blow, that resulted in a deep cut on Tobirama's face, but the kage didn't seem willing to retreat. Instead he lashed out with a kick and when it was dodged sent a powerful punch, aiming at Asuma's throat.

"There … " Asuma with a quick move severed Tobirama's stretched hand. A normal person would've screamed out in pain, but the resurrected moving corpse simply ignored it and Asuma paid the price as another punch sent him crashing through the ceiling.

"Blah." Asuma spat out blood and one of his teeth. He now was one the third floor and his vision was blurry. But he wasn't a jounin for nothing. He felt the attack come almost with his skin and rolled to the side, just as the water sword sliced through the floor. Asuma then rolled back and pulled up his knives again.

"Where the hell are Hiashi and Kurenai?" he wondered, forced into a corner.

"Water style: deep sea impalement!" The water sword instantly turned into a long spike, which launched towards Asuma, but it had only pinned the remains of a chair to the wall when Asuma pulled of a substitution. With some effort Asuma grabbed onto Tobirama's shoulders and tossed the kage out through the window and followed.

"Down below Kurenai and Hiashi were fending off another wave of water clones, most likely meant to keep them separated while Tobirama finished off Asuma.

Tobirama landed on his feet and jumped back to attack Kurenai. Te genjutsu mistress was busy fending off two clones when Tobirama attacked, but his strike passed straight through her. Lack of any resistance forced the second hokage to stumble as he lost balance for a moment. The he nearly fell face down as four kunai struck him in the back. The illusion was lifted proving Kurenai to already have dealt with the clones.

"Time reverse illusion." Asuma realized. A tricky technique to use. Not only was it hard to perform correctly, but it was even harder to use. The illusion basically made the target see a moment of a nearly passed time. Depending on the situation it could force the target to make himself vulnerable.

"Kurenai, get back!" Asuma jumped down, but it was too late. Tobirama sank his hand into the ground and eon the genjutsu mistress found herself held tight by tendrils of water, that latched onto her.

Tobirama left a clone to keep the technique going while he himself engaged Asuma and Hiashi. Behind Kurenai began to feel strange and week, even though for now nothing seemed to happed other than tendrils holding her.

"What is that jutsu?" Asuma asked blacking a kick, that followed by a power jet of water that nearly knocked him over.

"That is dehydration technique, Tobirama-sama was famous for it, one of his personal creations." Hiashi replied. "Unless we don't hurry it will suck all moisture out of Kurenai-san."

"Bastard!" Asuma cursed catching Tobirama's punch andpulling him to the side. "I don't care of you are not yourself, you have crossed the line!" Tobirama raised his hands in defense, but Asuma instead threw the kage back and released a powerful gust of wind from his mouth, sending the kage crashing in the distance.

"Vaccum palm!" Hiashi dispatched the clone while Asuma caught Kurenai who was already only half awake, her lips dry and her face pale. Just then a tiny yellow toad jumped onto Asuma's shoulder.

"I bring message from master Jiraiya." The toad spoke with a surprisingly low voice for such a tiny creature.

…

"Toero." Orochimaru scowled. That bone spear Hiruzen was holding, there was no mistaking it's origin. To think that he managed to cause all this trouble.

"So, tell me, Orochimaru. What did you do to make that young man to go to such lengths to just ruin your plans."

"Oh you know how ungrateful the younger generation is. You do what you can and they do not appreciate it. But don't worry I'll handle him when time comes, he is hardly a priority."

"Oh, I can guess who your priority is." Hiruzen scowled. Both ninjas were pacing from side to side but not yet attacking.

"Hmm, was it so hard to guess? But I assure you, I will get those eyes to serve my needs, one way or another."

"Orochimaru. Nothing angers me more than threatening the life of one of my shinobi. Defend yourself!"

The snake sannin found himself hard pressed as Hiruzen attacked with the spear. This weapon was nowhere near the quality of a diamond hard staff, but it was still a sturdy light and dangerous weapon. The pointy tip that formed a spear head nearly pierced Orochimaru's chest, but the rogue ninja showed almost unnatural flexibility as he avoided a potentially lethal blow.

"Gahh!" Orochimaru flew back when Hiruzen used the spear as a pole to launch himself higher and deliver a powerful strike to Orochimaru's face.

"Earth style: crushing jaws!" Hiruzen quickly formed seals after thrusting the spear into the ground next to him.

"No!" Orochimaru felt the ground tremble. He pushed away with all four limbs as massive stone jaws appeared. Orochimaru's legs got caught in the jutsu and were crushed, forcing the snake sannin to open his mouth in a silent scream.

"Hmm?" Hiruzen reached for the spear when he saw familiar pale fingers appear from Orochimaru's mouth. Then the old kage was forced to watch a most bizarre scene as Orochimaru sort of pulled himself out of the now empty shell, standing up covered in slime.

"Shedding skin? You are more of a snake than I even thought, Orochimaru." Hiruzen readied the spear again.

"Glad you approve, sensei. Well, time to die." Orochimaru smiled and shot forward snakes appearing from his sleeve wrapping around the spear, not allowing Hiruzen to use it. The old kage blocked the punch, but Orochimaru opened his mouth and a thick python wrapped itself around Hiruzen's neck.

"I will watch as life fades from your eyes, sens ….. what?" Hiruzen suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke. An Orochimaru flet sharp pain in his side. He twisted to the side just in time to avoid killing blow, but the bone spearhead still tore through his side, leaving a long nasty wound.

"You, when did you … " Orochimaru moved back holding his injured side.

"Did you really think that I just stood there and watched you perform your sick technique? Your arrogance will be your downfall." Hiruzen said, but he was breathing heavily. Despite his exceptional performance his age was catching up. He had no chance of outlasting Orochimaru in his condition.

"Fine, if that is how you play." Orochimaru's hand was covered with his own blood, so he had no trouble rubbing it all over his summoning tattoo.

"Summonig jutsu!" Hiruzen took a step back when he saw his former student appear atop an enormous snake. Without any warning it attacked and Hiruzen barely avoided it's massive tail. The snake began moving around, trying to catch the old kage, who was running and jumping avoiding the assault.

"Fire style: blazing barrier!" Orochimaru created a wall of fire that appeared right in front of Hiruzen, not allowing hit to move any further, while the snake once more prepared to crash the old hokage.

"Tsk." Orochimaru scowled when he saw the attack blocked by a toad holding a large round shield.

"Got a bit of trouble, sensei?" Jiraiya called out.

"No, but you are just on time, Jiraiya." Hiruzen jumped up, landing next to his student. "I trust the other matter is …. "

"Under control." Jiraiya confirmed. "Ready to go Gamaken?"

"I will do my best, but I apologize should I be ungraceful." Gamaken readied his sasumata.

…..

Tobirama got up, his face lacking any emotion as it did before. But it didn't meant that he was unaware of what was going on as he fist blocked Asuma's kick and then moved back avoiding Hiashi. The two ninjas for a short while pushed him back, but unlike he they didn't have unlimited stamina. Hiashi was also suffering from pain and blood loss due to his wound, but for now was ignoring it. Still it made his movements slightly less precise and gave his opponent a fraction of a second more to react and Hiashi soon paid the price receiving a kick in the face that nearly broke his nose.

"Alright, lets go!" Asuma pushed Tobirama to the side and pulled Hiashi up, propelling them both to the roofs, Tobirama hot on their tails.

"Good thing they lack creativity, otherwise it would be far harder to lure them away." Hiashi spoke.

"Creativity means an ability to think and I highly doubt Orochimaru needs pawns that think too much." Asuma replied and pointed forward. "There it is!"

The two ninjas landed in the middle of a small park while Tobirama appeared behind them riding a giant wave that slammed hard against the ground with enough force to tear down some of the trees.

"Kaiten!" Hiashi used the prized technique to shield himself and Asuma from impact and then they both began to retreat deeper into the park. Tobirama kept up his onslaught, throwing a jutsu after a jutsu at them without any sign of stopping.

"Down!" Hiashi pulled the jounin down when Tobirama flew over them nearly taking off their heads with another water sword. Asuma silently blessed the universe that his ally had the byakugan. He never expected the second hokage to propel himself forward using a power stream of water.

The second hokage flipped in mid air and prepare to land in the middle of an elegant fountain that decorated the park, but fell right through, landing a bit roughly on the hard ground.

"Ninja art: image of the unbreakable shackles." Kurenai flashed through seals trapping Tobirama in another genjutsu. The second hokage found himself bound to the ground by thick chains.

"You alright?" Asuma supported Kurenai who in her condition looked ready to drop down. Luckily Hiashi and Asuma managed to give her enough time to get here in advance and prepare the genjutsu.

"I am fine." Kurenai nodded though that was a lie. Still all three watched as Jiraiya's clones appeared activating the sealing technique finally stopping the battle. The clones then disappeared after placing a seal as did a small toad that sat on Kurenai's shoulder until now.

"Hiashi, can you walk on your own?" Asuma asked.

"My wound is uncomfortable, but I can endure." Hiashi spoke standing straight and speaking in his usual official tone. Even after such an ordeal the head of the Hyuga clan radiated authority, but that only made Asuma roll his eyes.

"Fine, lets go then." Asuma picked up Kurenai bridal style. The woman was too weak to protest and she didn't really mind.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"Naruto, w-who is this?" Sasuke desperately tried to understand how come he was suddenly atop a giant toad that was so huge that it was towering over the massive forest around them.

"Eh? Oh, right. Hey, toad boss, nice to see you again!" Naruto grinned.

"Naruto? You again?" the giant toad had a rather deep voice and from the sound of it he sounded somewhat annoyed over being summoned. "I see you brought me here to fight that walking pile of sand, Shukaku."

"Sure thing. He was giving us tons of trouble."

"And why should I help you fight him? I didn't sign up for a battle against one of the tailed beasts." Shukaku's body was not formed completely yet and streams of sand still moved towards it, creating a body made of highly compressed sand. It seemed that now when an opponent of equal size appeared the sand monster preferred not to move anymore without completing the transformation.

"What? I thought you said you would make me your subordinate! A boss should help out his subordinates when they are in a jam, shouldn't he?" Naruto was repeatedly stomping on Gamabunta's head, but it wasn't like the giant toad felt it.

"Perhaps, but I never made it official."

"Oh stop that!" Sasuke raised his voice. "Are you a toad or a giant chiken?"

"Who said that?" Gamabunta slightly moved his head.

"This is my teammate, Sasuke." Naruto explained.

"Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke specified narrowing his eyes.

"Uchiha? You were always an arrogant lot, you are no exception. But you also had skills to back up such arrogance. I wonder if you inherited that as well."

"Help us and find out."

"Yeah, come on, show that overgrown sand castle what the toad boss is made of." Naruto punched air.

"Tsk. I probably will regret this later, but fine. You intrigue me. Hold tight!"

Sasuke and Naruto barely had time to use chakra to stick to Gamabunta's head as the toad leaped forward pulling out his dagger. It was amazing how creatures so massive could move so quickly. Gamabunta ducked under Shukaku's paw and then moved to the side preparing to thrust his dagger through the head of the tailed beast, but was knocked back by a vicious swipe of the massive sand tail.

"Damn, he is not playing around!" Gamabunta frowned. "Fine, you favor using that tail of yours, eh?" Gamabunta jumped to the side when one of the massive paws extended, nearly grabbing him. The toad boss then moved back.

.

"Water style: gunshot!" A large sphere of water shot out from Gamabunta's mouth and hit Shukaku in the face, blinding him for a moment and knocking back slightly. When the sand monster recovered Gamabunta was nowhere in sight.

"Ragghh!" the giant toad dropped from above right on Shukaku's tail, ramming his dagger through the sand and pinning the thing to the ground. Shukaku lashed out with a swipe, trying to claw the toad sitting on his tail, but the toad boss was too quick and jumped over his foe, landing in front of him once more.

"He has one tough hide." Gamabunta commented.

"Whoah, what a ride." Naruto dropped down on his butt feeling dizzy. Sasuke fared better, but also looked a bit green.

"Look, it is Gaara." Sasuke easily saw through his sharingan how Gaara rose from the sand up to his waste.

"You two … amuse me. Blood will flow in rivers over my sand after I will crush you."

"So, that is the container." Gamabunta stated. "By the looks of it Shukaku is giving him a hard time."

"Feigning sleep technique." Gaara muttered and suddenly went limp. At first nothing seemed to happen, but then the giant sand monster began to move and the eyes began to glow with yellow. For the first time the sand creature showed emotion. It laughed a strange maniacal laugh, raising it's massive head.

"Yeah, I am out! I am finally out!"

"Is that the thing that was inside of him?" Sasuke asked in disbelief.

"And look what we have here. Someone for me to kill and my day barely even begun. Living is good! The sand monster began laughing again.

"Hmm, I heard Shukaku always was a bit ….. insane." Gamabunta sighed. Why on earth did he agree to participate in this battle? But there was no pulling back now. If you began a fight, make sure to see it to the end, even if that will be your own end.

"Man, are all tailed beasts psychos?" Naruto exclaimed. "I mean this one is an insane bloodthirsty sandpit and the other is a furry ball of malice."

"Another one?" Sasuke turned to his teammate, but there was no time to answer.

"Air style: Drilling air bullet!" Shukaku slammed his paw into his own gut forcing out a massive ball of highly compressed air. Gamabunta dodged it only narrowly, the jutsu flying past him and landing somewhere in the distance, reducing a large portion of the forest to barren wasteland.

"Hey, boss, better not get hit with that!" Naruto yelled.

"You think I don't know that, brat? But either way we won't survive for long if we don't get rid of Shukaku. We have little chance if Shukaku himself is fighting us."

"Then what do you suggest?" Sasuke asked holding on to the toad's head for dear life as Gamabunta jumped from side to side in order to not give Shukaku a clear shot. Even though the toad was giant, his rapid movement made him a very tricky target.

"I can see only one weak spot. The medium."

"You mean Gaara?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. Shukaku is still linked to him. As I see it, he can only resurface when his medium is asleep. We should wake him up."

"Well, the noise doesn't seem to be working." Naruto yelled as another air jutsu flew over their heads.

"Pain. We must hurt him. Physical injury is an almost guaranteed way to wake up a person unless he is in deep coma. The body regains consciousness automatically, it is our primal instinct." Sasuke offered.

"Right. Hey, Uchiha, you lot are supposed to be decent at fire based ninjutsu."

"I am nearly out of chakra, I doubt the fire I can unleash in my condition will do any damage to that thing!"

"You provide fire, I'll provide the magnitude of the attack. Prepare, I am going to spit oil!"

"You are going to do what?" Sasuke fell over when Gamabunta jumped once more, but Naruto grabbed him and stopped the young Uchiha from rolling off the toad's head.

"Just do what he says, it is not like we have a better plan."

"There, now I got you!" Shukaku saw how his opponent landed much closer than usual. There would be no dodging at this distance.

"Now!" Gamabunta spat out a stream of thick oil, while Sasuke flashed through hand seals.

"Fire style: Fireball jutsu!"

"Air style: drilling air bullet!" Shukaku slammed his paw into his gut once more releasing the wind jutsu and then his eyes widened.

"Oh damn!" Shukaku cursed. He only now realized that his tail was still pinned to the ground.

Wind style ninjutsu had one serious drawback. When they came in contact with fire, it only made that fire stronger. In this particular case the compressed air ball detonated right in front of Shukaku, blowing the sand monster back. Shukaku barely managed to put his massive paws to shield himself and now they were set ablaze being covered by burning oil. His tail finally got freed, or more exactly partially ripped off, something that clearly enraged Shukaku, who for the time being was forced to repair the damage he suffered after the detonation of his own air jutsu. The oil eventually burned out, leaving Shukaku's paws black and somewhat deformed.

"Tsk, that won't do. He is made of sand, so fire doesn't exactly hurt him. He is also not letting any harm come to the medium." Gamabunta frowned. "Our only remaining option is to get close and for one of you to wake him up the old fashioned way. But there is a problem."

"Problem? Another problem? There are already too many problems." Naruto pulled on his head in frustration.

"I can get close, but I need to grab and hold onto him for you to have a chance. Unfortunately my hands are not designed to grab onto such thick hide."

"Naruto, you had the same problem when you fought him while he was still our size." Sasuke remembered.

"Right, he was throwing my clones off like nothing until they rammed to kunai into his hide to hold on to."

"That should work." Gamabunta nodded.

"How is that going to work?!" Naruto yelled. "I don't carry kunai your size in my pockets!"

"But you can perform seals for me to transform into something with claws and fangs. That will do the trick."

"I have enough chakra to transform myself, but you, boss, you are, well, bigger." Naruto scratched his head.

"I'll provide the chakra, you perform the jutsu. Uchiha, since your are almost at your limit, you will wait until you get the chance to wake that medium up."

"Alright, hope you won't screw this up." Sasuke looked at Naruto who began preparing the transformation jutsu.

"You worry about your part in this." Naruto concentrated and Sasuke jumped up. Under him the massive form of Gamabunta was suddenly enveloped in smoke, hiding him completely. Sasuke saw something move, but couldn't understand what Naruto turned the toad boss into. Sasuke landed on something and looked down. For a moment he thought that he was standing on something covered in strange orange grass, but then realized that it was actually long fur that reached up to his knees. The smoke began to clear and Sasuke saw something behind. It was a tail … and another tail ….. and another.

"The nine-tailed fox." Sasuke realized, his eyes wide from shock. He was standing atop the beast that nearly destroyed the village years ago.

"Yes, this will do." The fox spoke with Gamabunta's voice and charged at Shukaku, who seemed equally shocked by the appearance of the all too familiar form. Sure, he realized that it was just a trick, a simple transformation jutsu, but moved back almost instinctively.

"Wind style: drilling air bullet!" Shukaku began releasing a shot after a shot, and now instead of maniacal laughter his voice held notes of panic. The giant sand monster was scared. And fear as it turned out was even beyond insanity.

The giant fox was incredibly agile as it moved around, getting closer despite a barrage of powerful wind jutsu.

"Stay away!" Shukaku tried to reach the fox with his claws, but missed. Sasuke witnessed as a massive sand claw sailed over his head and then in awe watched four orange tails wrap around the stretched sand paw.

"Arggg!" Shukaku roared as his paw was twisted and forced behind his back, while Gamabunta circled him. Remaining tails wrapped around the second sand paw as Shukaku tried to throw the fox off, but instead ended up in an uncomfortable position, with both his paws bound by orange tails behind his back.

"Go, Uchiha!" Gamabunta roared slamming his now clawed paws into Shukaku's sides and biting onto the back of the sand monster's neck.

From the side it looked like a tiny dark dot sailed through the air from the nose of the fox and onto the head of the beast of sand. Sasuke went into a roll, before he jumped up right next to Gaara and delivered a solid kick to Gaara's face.

"Ehh, wait, wait, NOOOOO! I WAS FINALLY OUT. NO FAIR, NO FAIR. CURSE YOU ALL!" the yellow glow died out and the sand monster stopped moving with an expression outrage still present on the sand face. It slowly turned blank once more and Sasuke with some satisfaction saw Gaara open is eyes. His kick was strong enough to break skin on Gaara's temple, so no wonder that the sand ninja was forced to wake up.

"You broke my technique." Gaara's voice was a mix of shock and anger. "You are weaker than I. How could you have achieved this? I will crush you!" Sasuke suddenly felt something grab his feet and looked down. Small tendrils of sand anchored Sasuke down. The young Uchiha struggled to get out, but then saw how the form of the fox disappeared in a puff of smoke and an orange dot flew out.

"You forget, there are the two of us!"

Gaara looked back in shock only for his face to meet with Naruto's punch. The force was enough to rip Gaara out of the tight embrace of his own sand, throwing him over to Sasuke, who was now free as Gaara lost concentration.

"It is payback time for all the trouble you caused!"

"For once we agree." Sasuke nodded and they both charged. Gaara looked with wide eyes as his two opponents approached and was helpless to avoid Sasuke ramming his knee into his gut. Naruto then punched Gaara once more, the sand genin stumbling back, the surface of Shukaku's body beginning to crumble under his feet.

"Gah!" Gaara received another strike to the face from the blonde, while Sasuke jumped over his teammate delivering a spin kick to Gaara's chest knocking him even further back until Gaara was balancing on the tip of Shukaku's nose.

"Why .." Gaara mumbled blood streaming from his nose. Naruto and Sasuke then punched him at the same time, both fists digging into Gaara's face throwing him off Shukaku's body that finally began to collapse.

"Why …" Gaara muttered once more falling down. He soon reached the forest and was smashing down through branches. He tried to grab one to slow down his fall, but he was to weak to hold on and only slowed himself down. His fingers slipped and Gaara smashed against another thick branch, rolled off of it and finally hit the ground.

"Why …. " Gaara whispered when he saw Naruto and Sasuke land not far from him, supporting each other.

"Why were you able to beat me?!" Gaara managed to pull himself up on one elbow, his body refusing to do anything more. Gamabunta who watched the large scale battle finally reach it's conclusion sighed and pulled his dagger out of the ground.

"Curious little ninjas." Gamabunta shook his head and disappeared. Down below Naruto and Sasuke turned to Gaara's prone form nearby.

"You still don't get, Gaara." Naruto took a step forward while Sasuke leaned back on a tree trunk in total exhaustion. "You are alone. There is only that much you can achieve without the help of others and those around you will never help you, never accept you, if you are trying to avenge yourself by hating the whole world."

Surprisingly Gaara was not the only one listening carefully to Naruto. Sasuke felt those words slowly sink in.

"How can you trust them? How can you believe and fight for others? I don't understand. It should make you weak."

"We are not so different. We saw darkness and walked through it. Me, you, Sasuke. I know how it horrible it is, to feel unwanted, unnecessary. But I met those who accepted me for who I am. I will fight for them and will die for them for they make me feel alive. You prove your existence by ending lives, I prove mine by protecting them. That is why I have those willing to stand next to me, those who are willing to offer me their power. When there are others accepting you, there are no obstacles you will be unable to overcome together. How can you match up to that alone?"

"So that is why. You care and they care in return." Gaara closed his eyes and slowly pulled himself up into a sitting position.

"Gaara!" Kankuro landed next to his brother followed by Temari, who nearly fell from the effort. How on earth was she even able to move in her condition was a mystery, but without a doubt it was painful.

"Step away." Temari growled, but it was an empty warning. She didn't even have the strength to unfold her fan, or keep standing without Kankuro's support.

"If we continue this battle there will be deaths." Shino spoke as he and Shikamaru appeared. Shikamaru was using Shino for support careful to avoid stepping on his broken leg.

"We are not letting you get any closer to our brother." Temari stated.

"Temari … stop. Please." Gaara spoke earning a surprised look from both his siblings. They couldn't remember the last time Gaara asked something like this in such a manner.

"Our mission was to prevent you from attacking the village." Shino spoke. Right now only he and Kankuro were in battle ready conditions, others were a mess. Perhaps Shikamaru would be able to provide assistance from a stationary position, but that was about it. Considering that Gaara was clearly no longer a serious threat it was more important to ensure the survival of his teammates, so Shino decided to negotiate.

"We leave, we are in no condition to fight anyway, not in an all out war at least." Kankuro offered.

"Very well, we have an agreement." Shino nodded and looked at his teammates. Shikamaru just shrugged. Naruto muttered something, but nodded as well.

"Fine, let them go." Sasuke agreed. Kankuro helped Gaara get up and the sand user managed to keep himself from collapsing, even though his legs felt like jelly.

"I can walk myself, Kankuro, take Temari."

"Um sure." Kankuro complied wrapping his sister's arm around his shoulder supporting her weight.

"I envy you, Uzumaki Naruto." Gaara whispered and walked off together with his siblings leaving the Konoha genin behind.

"We have completed our mission. We should return to the village." Shino spoke.

"Damn, walking is such a drag right now." Shikamaru sighed as Shino once more offered him his shoulder. Naruto and Sasuke went supporting each other.

"You just had to give a speech, eh?" Sasuke sighed.

"I was caught in the moment, it happens."

"Whatever." Sasuke shook his head taking one careful step after another.

"Hey, Sasuke. We were awesome, weren't we? We totally kicked his ass." Naruto grinned. Sasuke didn't answer for a while, but the sighed again.

"Yeah, I guess you can put it that way."

"I am going to sleep for a week." Shikamaru declared as he and Shino walked in front. Somehow others doubted that it was an exaggeration especially considering that sleeping for a week actually sounded like a pretty damn good idea.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"Damn you, old man. It is seems like you simply don't want to die." Orochimaru hissed watching his old sensei and his former teammate stand atop a giant toad that kept his snake away with a large round shield and not showing much effort doing it. Of course there was always Manda, but summoning that snake was more of a gamble and right now Orochimaru was in no position to take chances.

The old hokage was long past his prime, that was true, but he was still a formidable opponent. His mind and knowledge of jutsu were still as sharp as ever and what he now lacked in physical prowess he could to a degree replace with quick tactical planning, by pulling out an unexpected move. Without the resurrected minions to take the old man head on, Orochimaru had clear trouble dealing with his old sensei. He considered outlasting the senior ninja after depriving him of his prized summon and favorite weapon. But now, when Jiraiya joined the battle that option was no longer available.

"Long time no see, Orochimaru. Aren't you happy to see your old teammate? I certainly am not." Jiraiya frowned, his voice held no warmth it usually did. If anything he sounded like a man unafraid to get his hands stained with blood.

"Ah, Jiraiya. You certainly haven't changed."

"Neither have you, it seems." The toad sage countered. "You were always slimy if you ask me."

"Heh, coming from you, I'll take that as a compliment." Orochimaru smiled is creepy smile and suddenly jumped forward, his tongue wrapping around Gamaken's sasumata. Before the giant toad could do anything Orochimaru propelled himself over the giant toad and his former comrades.

"He is trying to escape." Hiruzen scowled.

"Gamaken, deal with the pest, you won't need us for this." Jiraiya followed his old teacher in pursuit of Orochimaru. It was clear that the odds were now greatly against the snake sannin and the rogue ninja saw nothing wrong with retreating if he could not assure victory. He was no coward by any means, but knew when he was outmatched.

"I will do my beast, but forgive me, if I will be …. ungraceful." Gamaken pushed the snake back and lower his weapon on it's tail forcing a hiss full of anger and pain out of the giant serpent. The snake tried to bite the giant toad, it's long fangs dripping with deadly poison, but Gamaken jumped over it and slammed his shield down, forcing the edge into the base of the snake's neck. Orochimaru's summon began trashing in agony, but Gamaken wasn't as cruel as to allow the defeated opponent to suffer. A powerful blow from the sasumata reduced the snake's head to a bloody mass of flesh and bone. It was a gruesome picture, but the dead serpent soon disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Gamaken looked over his blood stained weapon, frowning slightly and also disappeared, his services no longer required. In the distance Orochimaru flashed through seals while in mid air.

"Ninja art: snake tail." Orochimaru's legs morphed into what looked like a tail of a serpent, covered in dull green scales. Despite looking bizarre this form clearly gave Orochimaru a burst of speed he needed to get away.

"Jiraiya, get me ahead of him, quickly." Hiruzen reached out to his student who with a nod grabbed the hand. With a might roar Jiraiya spun around and showed impressive strength as he threw his sensei into the air.

"Huh?" Orochimaru looked up and dashed to the side. Iruzen dropped down like a meteor landing with enough force to create a shockwave, sending Orochimaru rolling on the ground.

"Fire style: Grand incineration!" Hiruzen spat out a small stream of fire onto his palm and dashed towards the prone snake sannin. The fire enveloped Hiruzens hand like a glove as the old kage ran.

"Aghh!" Orochimaru screamed. He tried to avoid getting hit, but here the long snake tail played against him, Hiruzen managing to grab it's end just before his former pupil got away. The effect was instant. The small touch was enough for the fire to start spreading burning at such amazing speed as to reduce the tail to ashes in seconds.

Hiruzen breathed heavily, performing at such a high level was a real torture in his age. The old kage scowled when he saw Orochimaru escape the technique by once more shedding skin, ending up a small distance away. He stood up, his legs once more present.

"Rasengan!" Orochimaru looked back and raised his hands, grabbing Jiraiya's wrist and stopping the ball of rapidly spinning chakra inches away from his nose. Still Orochimaru fell down on his back, Jiraiya pushing forward trying to smash the jutsu into the face of his former teammate, but the snake sannin pressed his foot on Jiraiya's stomach and threw the toad sage over his head, avoiding the lethal blow.

Orochimaru rolled to the side and jumped up facing his old sensei once again. The snake sannin was running out of chakra and trying to win a second of time threw several kunai at the old kage and turned to Jiraiya who was getting up. Hiruzen didn't even think of dodging. His former student had no time to aim properly and the old kage knew that.

"You will die here, today, Orochimaru!"

"No!" the rogue ninja looked back and to his shock saw how the old kage threw the bone spear. There was a kunai stuck in the old kage's leg and one sliced through his side, but it didn't make the throw any weaker.

"Gah!" Orochimaru spat out blood, the spear went all the way through his chest and got stuck in the ground behind him.

"Sensei?" Jiraiya saw how Hiruzen dropped down to his knees, but the kage waved him off.

"You ….. foolish old …. man. How dare ….. you do this ….. " Orochimaru barely kept himself standing. The spear missed his heart, but his lung now had a nice hole in it.

"This is the end for you. Goodbye, Orochimaru." Jiraiya once more created a rasengan, knowing that this time there would be no avoiding it.

"Orochimaru-sama!" a smoke bomb detonated hiding Orochimaru from Jiraiya. Kabuto jumped down, intercepting Jiraiya with a kunai in hand, but the toad sannin ducked under a slash and slammed his free hand into Kabuto's side with enough force to send the spy flying away and smashing into some larger piece of rubble.

"Rasengan!" Jiraiya reached his target despite the smoke and rammed the ball of chakra into his chest, tearing up the wound. For a moment the jutsu simply drilled into the body until Jiraiya finally released it and Orochimaru was sent flying back until his body crushed into another pile of rubble left after the great battle with such force as to make the ground shake.

"Hn, something doesn't feel right." Jiraiya looked to the side and cursed loudly. Orochimaru was sinking into the ground along with two identical looking ninjas supporting him and another six armed man standing in front, ready to protect his master with his life.

"Hmm, Kabuto." Hiruzen approached the body that suffered the effects of Jiraiya's rasengan, but now that the jutsu wore off it was clearly not the snake sannin. It was impossible to tell who it actually was, but with some relief Hiruzen identified a damaged forehead protector with the symbol of the hidden sand village.

"This …. is not the … end. I will ….. see life ….. leave your ….. eyes. Sensei." Orochimaru spoke, his half ruined outfit stained with his own blood. Seconds later Orochimaru and his remaining minions disappeared. Kabuto used the time to get away on his own.

"Got away." Jiraiya shook his head.

"For now, it does not matter. He failed and suffered a defeat he will remember forever." Hiruzen pulled the blood stained spear out of the rubble and now used it as support.

"There was no need to push yourself this far, sensei. That was a reckless move on your part." Jiraiya supported his mentor. For the toad sannin the old kage weight practically nothing.

"I agree, but it was unexpected for Orochimaru. He never understood the idea of putting his life on the line, the idea of sacrifice."

"Yeah. But lets get you to the medics, before you bleed all over me. I had this outfit handmade you know. You won't believe how expensive it is to clean it without ruining it."

"Jiraiya, I hardly think that the cost of your outfit will come anywhere close to the price of repairing all the damage the village suffered. Just look around."

"Ahh, these are just buildings, they will be rebuilt with time. What is important is that you managed to protect what really makes this village special. The people who live in it. We all understand it, and that is why everyone fought and put their lives on the line."

"At least one of my students learned the lessons I tried to teach. Could be worse." The old kage laughed quietly while slowly walking through the ruined streets of Konoha.

…

The fighting around the village stopped almost completely. The sound ninjas often fought to the bitter end. Perhaps because some of them were wanted missing nin originally. Surrendering would just mean imprisonment and execution later. In other words they often hand little to lose and tried to sell their lives for a higher price. The sand ninjas on the other hand began surrendering rather quickly when it became clear that there was no chance of victory or escape. They naturally didn't expect good treatment, as they did betray the hidden leaf, but at least it was a chance of survival. Their deaths would not serve their village in any way, so they had all the reason to drop their weapons unlike the sound ninjas who had little to no ties to the symbol they wore on their forehead protectors.

But now that the fighting stopped it was time to look at the damage and count the dead. A depressing job to say the least. Still it was good to know that despite the ordeal the village would survive, that despite overwhelming odds it achieved victory. But the image of a war torn village was a sight that weighted heavily on those not used to it.

"Man, I can't smell anything clearly it is all smoke and blood." Kiba frowned. The genin were send to look for the wounded once the message about the end of the battle came. Kiba with his good nose was teamed up by Sakura and Ino, while Neji accompanied by Chouji to look through the more damaged parts of the village where wounded could be trapped under rubble. Hinata woke up earlier, but was forced to stay since her condition was considered serious. At least Kiba had someone he trusted to look after Akamaru.

A couple of times the genin watched columns of prisoners moving past, with chunin and jounin preventing anyone from escaping. It was a sad picture, as he invading ninjas clearly took a beating, but nobody in Konoha really felt sorry for them.

"No, I used to shop here all the time!" Ino paled when she saw her favorite shop reduced to rubble.

"Whoah, now you will not be able to look all fancy. Such tragedy." Kiba was dripping with sarcasm.

"Shut it dog breath." Ino snapped at him.

"Guys, lets just keep looking, somebody could be in need of our help." Sakura said. Like Ino she was supplied by a medical bag. She was no medic of course, but did know how to apply basic treatment.

"Wait, I smell something. Familiar." Kiba sniffed air.

"What?" the girls asked in unison.

"Wait. This way." Kiba broke of running. The Inuzuka was quite fir physically and the girls had a bit of trouble keeping up.

"I thought I smelled someone familiar. Man, you look like a total mess." Kiba grinned agter turning a corner.

"Kiba, who are you … Sasuke, Naruto!" Sakura happily recognized her teammates. Looking at them it was hard to tell who was supporting who, but most likely either one would fall should the other be absent.

"Sasuke-kun!" Ino clapped her hands when she saw the young Uchiha.

"No hugs." Sasuke pointed at Ino with his free hand looking annoyed. "And no flirting, no date requests I am not in the mood. That goes double for you Sakura."

"Aww." Ino pouted and then turned to Shikamaru, who observed the scene with a bored look while he leaned on Shino's shoulder. "What happened to you, Shikamaru?"

"I broke my leg, troublesome woman."

"We engaged in combat with the sand team following orders from Kakashi-san. We accomplished our mission successfully." Shino's explanation sounded more like a report.

"Yeah, we kicked their asses. Damn, I've got sand …. everywhere." Naruto frowned. The rough grains of Gaara's sand were really driving him nuts.

"Are any of you seriously injured?" Sakura asked with concern.

"Define seriously." Sasuke scowled. "If anything the Nara there has the worst injury. Me and Naruto are just bruised and exhausted. Shino seems fine."

"Oh, lets get you to the field hospital. There is one being set up nearby, right in the middle of the market. There are so many wounded."

"This is war, what did you expect?" Sasuke looked at Sakura.

"All of this just happened so suddenly. I am still trying to figure it all out." Sakura sighed. She looked over her two teammates and felt scared. This was the first time she saw Naruto so …. depleted. He barely had enough energy to walk.

"Figures." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Come, Sasuke, let me help. Kiba, take Naruto."

"Why do you get to help Sasuke?" Ino objected.

"Ahem, because I am his teammate. You go help your teammate." Sakura pointed at Shikamaru.

"No thanks, I am good with Shino, he is not as troublesome." Shikamaru shook his head.

"Hn, I agree with him." Sasuke frowned. "We are better off as we are if you two will start bickering and being annoying. If you consider yourselves ninjas, act like ninjas, because right now you both are laughable."

"Hey, no need to be so mean, teme." Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Shut it. At least you proved useful and that is enough reason for me to tolerate you being a moron."

"Harsh." Kiba crossed his hands on his chest, but he to a degree agreed with the Uchiha. These girls in his opinion were a tad too loud.

"Damn, Sasuke, how can you say something nice and then insult me in the same sentence."

"Just keep moving, dobe."

"Alright, lets keep searching you two." Kiba turned to Ino and Sakura, as both girls stood like statues with wide eyes.

"But we should help them out, they are injured." Ino finally snapped out of it.

"They can move, so they don't need our help. We should go looking for someone really in need of aid." Kiba pointed out. "Besides, this is no time for you two to be fussing over the pretty boy here."

"Careful, Inuzuka." Sasuke looked angrily at Kiba, who only released a barking laugh. What was even worse, was that Naruto was doing his best to hold the laughter, but failing miserably.

"Sasuke, are you sure … "

"Just go do something productive for once. We will manage on our own. Been doing fine so far." Sasuke didn't let Sakura finish and the small group limped off towards the field hospital.

"Teme, I bet Sakura would've helped us if she knew about us fighting Gaara."

"We had enough trouble the way it was. There was absolutely no room for a damsel in distress."

Sasuke's voice went faint as the group limped around the corner.

"Hey, forehead."

"Hmm?"

"Is it me, or did Sasuke just call the two of us useless?"

"Relax. So he speaks the sad truth, so what? Naruto is an idiot, everybody knows that, but it didn't stop him from beating the crap out of me and Neji. Come, we have work to do." Kiba marched past the girls who silently followed the Inuzuka as he once again broke of running.

"Oh, slow down, seriously!" Ino yelled.

"I think I've got another familiar sent. And this one doesn't smell like a ramen stand. No, more like metal and … ink, actually."

"Who on earth could that be?" Sakura wondered. Keeping up with Kiba's pace was turning into a nightmare. For a moment they ran through smoke created by the burning remains of a small dojo and nearly ran into another group of people.

"Halt. Identify yourselves and state your business." Kiba stopped dead in his tracks, his touching a tip of a razor sharp sword.

"ANBU? You are a real one, right?" Kiba pulled back a bit.

"The kid must have a concussion." Another ANBU said. He was standing next to someone armed with a bow. A little bit to the side another ANBU was standing only because he was supported by a girl whose hair was tied into two buns.

"I remember him." Toero said. "He was knocked out by Kabuto when he was posing as an ANBU operative.

"Who's the guy?" Kiba asked, Ino and Sakura only now finally caught up.

"He is our ally, but we are not sure, so for now he is detained." Tenten explained. "Glad to see you guys safe and uninjured. Hey, could you help with this guy? He is heavy and is bleeding all over me."

"Boar, stay here and get treated. We will handle the rest of the assignment. Tenten-san, proceed with us, we will require your report."

"Wait, if I really was knocked out by an imposter, it means he took the attire from a real ANBU. Maybe we can still help him." Kiba realized.

"You speak nonsense." Toero turned to Kiba once more. "A target whose identity is assumed by a spy is generally neutralized, permanently and preferably without unneeded fuss."

"You can't be sure about that! Maybe he is injured or just knocked out." Ino objected. Toero raised his eyebrow, wondering if she was actually serious, but the blonde girl sure seemed that way.

"If you don't believe me, you can go dig around the remains of the arena, should be buried under the rubble somewhere around there."

"Tenten-san, we must go." An ANBU spoke.

"Alright, alright." Tenten helped to put the injured ANBU in a sitting position and hurried after Toero and the remaining masked ninjas leading him away.

"What a creep." Sakura rubbed her shoulder in discomfort and then turned to the injured ninja.

"Alright, lets see here … oh my." Sakura pulled away the soaked bandages. Actually they seemed more like the remains of some article of clothing, but that was beside the point. The wound was deep and the ANBU was loosing blood at the alarming rate.

"Not too tight, Ino, he needs to breath too."

"I know, forehead." Ino nodded. She then reached into her medical bag and then looked at Anbu with confusion. "Err, I have painkillers, but the mask."

"Thank you." The ANBU took the pill between his middle and index fingers and slid it under the mask, not revealing anything. His voice sounded weak, but perhaps it was because of the mask. It didn't matter, it was important to get him to be seen by a real medic.

"Alright, up you go." Kiba pulled the ANBU up, back into a standing position. The properly applied bandages slowed down the bleeding, but it was a very deep wound and they would not do the trick. It was a temporary measure at best. But for now it was the best that the genin could offer.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The key military facilities in Konoha avoided most of the damage during the battle. It was logical, these structures held special interest for the village security and thus were built in a way to ensure their survival during such events. They were generally hidden, or a t least had restricted access. Civilians in general were not in aware of their importance or even existence. Even the access of shinobi was often restricted and a special permission was required to enter or conduct any kind of research.

Some would consider such precautions unnecessary, but ninjas had every reason to be a little bit paranoid. It was a part of their lives to always expect an attack and always be prepared for it. A spy infiltrating a village was quite possible, but for a spy to locate one of the secret facilities and gain access, that was a far more complicated task.

The interrogation department followed all these rules and even more. It not only prevented anyone from entering without a special pass, it also was built to stop anyone from escaping. It was like a highly elaborate trap, hard, but possible to enter and nearly impossible to leave.

"Well, I do say it is time for us to talk." Hiruzen entered one of the rooms. It looked nothing like a prison cell, except for a strong metal door that looked like it could withstand an incredible amount of force. The walls were also reinforced thought it was impossible to see that.

"Sarutobi Hiruzen, the third hokage of the hidden leaf village." Toero nodded. He was calmly sitting on a simple wooden chair in the corner. There was a small table nearby, with a simple meal, but it seemed that Toero never touched any of the food offered. He didn't deny medical attention though, as a medic healed up his wounded leg. The muscles were sliced through cleanly and the medic was a bit surprised that the young man wasn't showing that he was in pain. Toero was still dressed the same way as before, only his mask was pulled down and looked a bit like a scarf around his neck.

"From what I understand, your name is Toero. Unfortunately that is one of the few things we know about you, while you seem to know quite a bit about me and the village. That doesn't seem fair." Hiruzen took a seat near the opposite wall. All looked civil, but in reality the ninjas had the maximum amount of space between them the room could offer. Also, should there be trouble it would take only a second for the security to appear. Of course they did take certain precautions in advance, like taking away Toero's weapons, but it was clear that to fully disarm the young ninja they would need to remove his skeleton.

"Fair is not a word suitable for shinobi." Toero spoke in a low monotone. Hiruzen shifted slightly in his seat. He was currently wearing his usual formal hokage robes, hiding the bandaged up injuries. Still his old body was feeling awful after the battle and the old kage had to remind Ibiki that he was still in charge despite his injuries. Hiruzen wanted to speak with Toero personally.

"In most cases I would agree." The old kage nodded. "But right now it seems we have a common enemy. Sharing information could be fruitful."

"As your question and I will answer … or perhaps I won't. Depends on the question." It didn't seem that Toero was in any way intimidated by the presence of a legendary shinobi in the room. Hiruzen could hardly intimidate by his appearance, but Toero clearly knew about his reputation and Hiruzen was feared in many countries.

"Very well. Who are you?"

Toero tilted his head to the side slightly and for a moment it seemed like he was not going to reply, but Hiruzen was patient.

"What do you know about Orochimaru's goals?"

"Hn, you are answering a question with another question. Alright, I know very little about what Orochimaru was doing after he fled the village."

"Then allow me to enlighten you. Your former student has a taste for anything that is unique and powerful. Weapons, jutsu, bloodlines. He is fascinated by them and has no limits in obtaining and using them."

"Go on."

"He figured, that the only limit that was imposed on him by nature itself is the concept of mortality. Even powerful shinobi eventually succumb to the merciless effects of time, you should know."

"Ahem. I will not deny it my age, Toero-san, but I am still a kage."

"Something I am perfectly aware of." Toero leaned back slightly. "As I was saying, Orochimaru was troubled by a possibility of eventually dying of all age. To avoid such a fate he developed a method of transferring his soul from one physical shell to another."

"How is that possible?" Hiruzen felt his mouth go dry. To think that Orochimaru went so low, but after witnessing the snake sannin using the most forbidden of jutsu to resurrect the former kages it hardly should've been surprising.

"I am now aware of details and don't know how that jutsu is performed. I only know that the effects are temporary. Orochimaru's new bodies eventually begin to rapidly decompose. As such the technique most be performed continuously."

"How often?"

"I can not tell you the exact time. I suppose it can wary depending on the body and how the body is used, but several years I suppose."

"That is very interesting, but that does not answer my original question, who are you, Toero-san?"

"My answer will be meaningless without you having a clear picture, Sarutobi-san. If I answer a question, I prefer to make sure that it is understood fully." Toero looked Hiruzen straight in the eyes and the old Kage noted that they held no innocence that should be in the eyes of someone so young.

"Then please, go on."

"By taking another body Orochimaru grants all physical capabilities of his new shell. As such he can access unique techniques that otherwise would be out of his reach. For that reason Orochimaru is quite picky when it comes to choosing a new body and he prepares it in advance. His next shell was supposed to be a body of a member of the Kaguya clan, Kimimaro."

"Kaguya? From what I know they were wiped out by the hidden mist."

"Your information lacks accuracy. Kimimaro was the only survivor, but still a survivor. The ability to manipulate your own skeletal structure intrigued Orochimaru, but unfortunately Kimimaro was cursed with an incurable disease of unknown origin. I don't know the details about his sickness other that it making the body unsuitable for Orochimaru to use."

"Hmm." Hiruzen rubbed his chin, already getting the idea of where it was going.

"Orochimaru attempted to recreate the bloodline, but transplanting the bone tissue into the bodies of other people. Out of 78 attempts I was the only with any measure of success."

"What do you mean by that?"

"First of all I survived. I also adapted to the transplanted bone tissue. But I never was able to use the bloodline on the same level as Kimimaro. I tire quickly when creating significant amounts of additional bone tissue, my body takes more time to heal from puncture wounds left by the bones growing through my body and the amount of tissue I can create is roughly one tenth of what Kimimaro is capable of. I also have no pain numbing effect when I grow bone tissue through my own flesh."

Hiruzen couldn't help but feel an uncomfortable feeling down in his stomach. The boy was not a Kaguya and using those abilities meant that he was tearing his flesh every time he did that. No wonder he had such high pain tolerance. As for the experiment, it wasn't the first time Orochimaru tried something like this. The first time was when Orochimaru was experimenting on mokuton, right here in the village.

"You should understand, that Orochimaru was not going to use a body with such …. defects." Toero now leaned a bit forward, is hands resting on his knees.

"Yes, I can understand what you mean. Orochimaru was always a perfectionist to a degree. So, are you seeking vengeance for what happened to you?"

"You misunderstand my motives." Toero shook his head. "I do not remember anything of my life before being experimented on. I have nothing to take vengeance for, as I don't know what I was deprived of. I also consider vengeance counterproductive. But I know that I am a shinobi and as such I am considered a useful tool. Still I believe that I have the right to choose whose tool I will be."

"Then why do you work against Orochimaru?"

"His motives are selfish. I will not serve without getting anything in return. My loyalty can not be blind, for I do not live to serve, but serve to live. Orochimaru does not allow anyone to simply leave, you either serve him or die. As such we had no way to coexist peacefully. His way of life made him my enemy."

"But from what I understand you stayed with him for at least some time."

"First of all I needed to learn to properly use what abilities I gained. Orochimaru considered me unsuitable as his body, but he thought I could have other uses. I used the time to gather whatever information I could, but I never had access his more trusted minions had. That most likely was also the reason I was not branded with the curse seal."

"This reminds me of another matter. Toero-san, why did you try to assassinate Uchiha Sasuke?" Hiruzen's tone held the cold notes that were unusual for the kind voice of the old kage.

"Orochimaru branded him with the curse seal. Curse seal of heaven to be precise. It confirmed that Orochimaru decided that the Uchiha would be suitable for his next body. Sharingan would have provided him many advantages, especially when it came to learning or developing new jutsus. Thus the best way to ruin Orochimaru's plan was to kill Uchiha Sasuke, otherwise the possibility of Orochimaru becoming even more of a threat remained. I find it best to rule out such an option."

"Even at the cost of an innocent life?"

"I can hardly consider the life of a shinobi innocent. His death would simplify things, but it so happened that he survived. I was actually hoping he would die due to the complications of being branded with the curse seal, as there is only a 10% chance of survival, but he pulled thought. After that I had no choice but to try and assassinate him."

"We sealed up the curse seal Uchiha Sasuke was branded with."

"But the sharingan remains and that is Orochimaru's goal. I understand that it is a valuable bloodline and a potentially great asset to the village. But the risk is too great."

"I will not kill a member of my own village just to lessen the risks!" Hiruzen raised his voice slightly and Toero for the first time felt discomfort being in the same room as the old kage.

"If that is your decision, so be it."

"I will also not allow anyone to try it if I can avoid it."

"Then how do you plan to handle it, Sarutobi-san? You know no worse than I that avoiding the matter will hardly solve. After all, if that was so, your village would not have suffered such an invasion."

Hiruzen frowned slightly. As sad as it was Toero was right. If he would've killed Orochimaru back when he had the chance all of the recent event could've been avoided. All the lives lost, to a degree the old hokage felt responsible for them and for what happened to Toero as well. He tried not to think about it, but he always knew that Orochimaru would not stop his sick ways.

"We still have much to discuss, Toero-san. But for now, I have a proposition."

"Lets say I am an intrigued." Toero nodded, though it didn't sound like he was actually interested.

"Without a doubt Orochimaru is a common enemy for us. You have information and we have resources. We could achieve more by cooperation. The recent events only prove that, otherwise you would not have helped us to uncover the plot and you would not have helped me during the invasion. I suppose you also understand that alone your capabilities are limited, as you inlisted a help of one of my shinobi."

"She was competent." Toero nodded.

"As such I think we can work out an agreement. I will think over this, but for now I have only two conditions."

"Those being?"

"You will refrain from leaving the village and will not make any attempt to harm Uchiha Sasuke or any other residents of Konoha."

"Even if I promise this, what makes you think that I will keep my word. Deception is a way of the shinobi."

"True, but also is common sense. If you break your promise, you will have a whole ninja village after you and you will loose a powerful ally."

"My equipment."

"Your gear will be returned to you. Come tomorrow to my office, I will have a more detailed offer by then."

"Agreed." Toero stood up.

"It is settled then." Hiruzen also stood up and clapped his hands. Almost instantly the door opened and an ANBU walked in.

"Take Toero-san to the armory and return him is equipment. All of it. After that take him to our intelligence department. He will provide detailed information on Orochimaru's activities. Toero-san is considered our ally."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." The ANBU nodded and turned to Toero. "Please follow me."

…

"Everything in order, Jiraiya?" Hiruzen leaned back in his armchair. His hokage robe simply covered his shoulder, revealing his bandaged up torso. The hat was on the corner of the table and the old kage puffed on his pipe. He took a liking to the thing, it helping him get his thoughts into order and right now he needed it more than ever.

"Yeah, everything seems to be going well. As well as they can in this mess that is. Dumped the prisoner over at Ibiki's. Does she have a foul mouth. I didn't even know a couple of things she called me." Jiraiya smirked remembering the picture of his toad summon barfing out Tayayu in front if Ibiki, who would have the pleasure to interrogate the foul smelling kunoichi. That was expected, who would smell good after spending half a day inside of a giant toad. She should've been grateful for not being digested.

"Good, good. She will work as an additional information source. What do you know about the sound village?"

"Nothing much. There were rumors and it was said it was a minor village, so I didn't look into it much. Never figured Orochimaru would organize a hidden village."

"He didn't." Hiruzen sighed shaking his head.

"What do you mean?"

"There is no hidden sound village. Never was and I think never will be." The old kage unrolled a map on the table and Jiraiya recognized the land of rise. It was a small, but prosperous land and never had anything to do with shinobi business. Four different locations were marked on the map with red dots.

"What is this?"

"These are the locations of Orochimaru's hidden facilities. Toero could name only four, but said that he heard of at least 7 more beyond the land of rise."

"So, the hidden sound never existed, huh."

"Not in the sense of a real hidden village. Still it is clear that Orocimaru created several secret bases. It basically makes it impossible to deal with the threat with one decisive blow. And the bases being constructed in other lands means that open assault would mean a political scandal."

"Orochimaru might be a traitor, but he was never stupid, sensei. This also explains how he managed to mobilize a considerable amount of ninjas so quickly. He merely kept various lowlife missing nin in small groups around his facilities."

"Precisely." Hiruzen confirmed.

"So, did you get anything else interesting of that Toero guy?"

"He provided much information, most will require time to analyze correctly. He lacked many details, but considering what we had before ….. lets just say we have a clearer picture now."

"Alright. Did you figure out what to do with him?"

"He is a young and talented shinobi and he bears no ill will towards Konoha."

"No warm feelings either." Jiraiya pointed out.

"That is so, but he doesn't have any reason to like us in any way. He helped because it served his own goals, simple as that. But it would be a shame to let someone with such potential just slip through our fingers."

"Hmm, maybe you are right. Keep an eye on him, if anything he proved to be able to cause much trouble."

"Jiraiya, I am old, but I have not outgrown my own mind. I realize the risks perfectly well and I believe that those risks are outweighed by potential benefits."

"Fine, you are the kage and all. What do you want me to do now?"

"Stick around, I might make a request later, but right now there are urgent matters to attend to. The village will need time to recover and even though we won, losses are high. It will be hard to keep up completing the missions in the same amount as before, but we need the funds more than ever."

"The village will pull through, hardly the worst that happened to it and it always recovered."

"Yes, yes, you are right. It is just pain to read reports and see all those familiar names listed among the dead."

"Could be much worse." Jiraiya tried to cheer his old sensei up.

"That is what both concerns and angers me, Jiraiya. If it wasn't for Orochimaru's ability to make himself enemies, we would've been in a much worse condition, provided we survived the invasion at all. We would've been taken completely by surprise. The village and myself got too relaxed. We forgot how cruel is the world we live in. And once more this world gave a most painful of lessons. Always be prepared, a most important of rules."

….

"Umm ….. Gaara. I think we should stop and rest, Temari can barely move and she is heavy." Kankuro addressed his younger brother carefully.

"Did you just call me fat?" Temari would've hit Kankuro, but couldn't find the strength to do it.

"The sun is setting. We will rest, for now." Gaara nodded and Kankuro with relief settle his sister down, earning a pained moan from her.

"Whoah, you are a total mess." Kankuro carefully inspected the injuries is sister suffered. There was no time for that earlier.

"There is no need to tell me that. I got knocked out by my own fan." Temari scowled.

"I can see that. Hmm, little we can do about your leg right now, a nasty break. Your head wound stopped bleeding though. We should probably cover it with something." Kankuro thought for a moment and then heard a ripping sound. He looked to the side and with wide eyes saw how Gaara ripped off the sleeve of his shirt.

"You can use this." Gaara spoke in his usual monotone, but for once Kankuro felt comfortable hearing his brother's voice.

"Thanks, Gaara." Temari smiled while Kankuro wrapped the cloth around her head. The sand user only nodded and then looked around.

"I will try to locate water. Kankuro, stay with Temari." Gaara walked off into the forest deep in thought. He didn't understand completely, but somehow he felt nice. His sisters gratitude made him feel better, it made him feel alive.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The morning air was always refreshing. For some people it was like a cold shower, doing a remarkable job of helping one wake up. Of course there were still those who had to resort to other means to wake up, some didn't need anything at all and some had trouble waking up no matter what the circumstances. For Tenten fresh and slightly chilly morning air was all she needed. It was one of her favorite times of day, as she wasn't that fond of hot weather.

This morning she barely finished her simple breakfast when an ANBU popped in and told her to go to the hokage tower as soon as possible. She of course understood the importance of such an order, but couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed at the ANBU operatives. Those masked ninjas had no respect for the privacy of others. She could easily picture one of them appearing while someone was in the shower.

"Huh? Shikamaru-san?" Tenten had just made it to the entrance to the hokage's office when she saw Shikamaru sitting on one of the chairs in the corridor. The young Nara seemed ready to fall asleep and looked up at her with a bored expression.

"Why does all of this have to happen this early in the morning?"

"It is not that early, Shikamaru-san. We ninjas aren't supposed to sleep in anyway."

"What a drag. You sound like my mom and the only reason why I got here as soon as possible was not to hear her nagging me."

"Why are you here anyway?" Tenten asked. She was wondering how someone so unmotivated could be a ninja, but some ninja were pretty weird.

"Some ANBU popped up in the middle of our kitchen, told me to get to the hokage's tower, scared my mom, got smacked by a frying pan. The usual morning."

"Serves him right." Tenten smiled and sat down next to Shikamaru. She guessed that they were called for the same reason, so if Shikamaru was sitting here, most likely they weren't allowed to enter yet. The ANBU guards who usually called the people inside also paid them no attention and that seemed to suit Shikamaru perfectly well. He quickly began to doze off and for a moment Tenten was tempted to follow his example. Sitting and waiting was pretty boring. Her eyes snapped open though, when she a familiar figure walking down the corridor. There was no mistaking Toero, with his dark grey outfit and bow. This was the first time she saw him without his mask covering the lower half of his face. It was a rather unremarkable face, not someone you would remember meeting in the street. In a way in was perfect for a shinobi who didn't need any extra reason to stand out, at least most of the time.

He didn't pay any attention to those around. He did stop when he was passing Tenten though and after a moment gave a short nod, before moving on. It wasn't any form of greeting, more like a sign of acknowledgement. Tenten always tried to prove that female ninjas were in no way inferior to their male counterparts and such a sign of respect was something she could value greatly no matter how minor that sign was.

Toero in the mean time approached the doors of the hokage office and the ANBU allowed him inside without any questions. That meant that the genin would have to keep waiting.

"Ahh, Toero-san. It is good that we meet in a more pleasant situation." Hiruzen gave a slight smile. His table was filled with various scrolls, papers, files. Without a doubt the reports were still pouring in, regarding the damage and casualties suffered and such. There were so many matters the kage had to attend, like handling the prisoners, initiating the plans for reconstructions of certain buildings, keeping an eye on available supplies.

"I prefer not to waste time on trivial matters."

"Very well." Hiruzen nodded. It was to a degree easier to deal with people with such no no-nonsence personalities. You at least knew what to expect of them.

"As promised I can make you a more detailed offer regarding our cooperation." The old kage said setting his pipe aside.

"I am listening."

"The village right now is in no shape to take active offensive measures against Orochimaru. For now I will initiate operation in order to gather information based on the data you already provided us. I want to know everything there is to know about Orochimaru's activities, before taking any direct action against him."

"I can see logic in that. Attack without proper preparation is doomed to fail."

"Exactly. But you turned my attention to another matter, namely Uchiha Sasuke. You are right, leaving the matter without attention would be a serious mistake. I will of course not allow you or anyone to harm him without a reason. What I want is someone to keep an eye on him."

"You want me to protect a genin?" Toero tilted his head slightly. Hiruzen wasn't sure if the archer was annoyed by such an assignment or just wanted details.

"I want you to prevent Uchiha Sasuke from falling into Orochimaru's hands."

"How far am I allowed to go in order to do that?"

"You are to do anything possible avoid the death of Uchiha Sasuke, but should there be no other way out, you can use lethal force. But remember, this, Toero-san, if I will find out that you harmed one of my shinobi when there was another way at your disposal, I will take the most drastic measures against you."

"Understood." Toero nodded. "Uchiha Sasuke is a member of a genin team, he will without a doubt move around, leave the village on missions. It makes my job complicated."

"I know and I gave it some thought. I am offering you this." Hiruzen opened a drawer and pulled out a forehead protector with the symbol of the hidden leaf. The old kage didn't hand it to Teoro directly, just placed it on the edge of the table.

"I will grant you a rank of chunin with a long term probation period. Still this will allow me to make your job much easier without any legal consequences."

"I see." Toero looked at the forehead protector. Hiruzen wondered if the young ninja would take it, after all it would in a way bind him to the village.

"I will accept the offer, but I will not wear the symbol of this village until we both will be able to fully trust each other." Toero pocketed the forehead protector. The third hokage rubbed his chin. It was a compromise that suited him as well and he had no reason to disagree.

"Alright. This of course doesn't mean that you will be working without any backup." The old kage clapped his hands and an ANBU guard entered the room. "There should be two genin waiting outside. Send them in."

"Yes, lord hokage." The ANBU disappeared. A minute later Tenten and Shikamaru walked inside. The girl was very curious what the hokage would tell them, but he didn't seem angry or anything.

"You are here, very good. I spent some time reading through the reports I received about the actions of our genin during the invasion. It was a rather hard decision, but necessary and I think just. I apologize for the lack of formal ceremony, but there is no time for that. This will have to suffice for now." Hiruzen pulled out two papers and with a quick motion signed them before handing them over to genin.

"You are promoting us …. to chunin?" Tenten nearly choked.

"Damn, this is so troublesome."

Hiruzen blinked. He actually expected cheers, at least from Tenten.

"Hokage-sama, I am flattered, really, but I don't think I deserve this promotion. I didn't even get past the preliminaries of the exams. I mean I can hardly be considered chunin material yet, I am not that strong or ….. "

Tenten closed her mouth when Hiruzen raised his hand. A simple gesture, but from a man of such power it alone was enough to stop the girl.

"You fail to see the purpose of those exams. You see, chunin of course should have a higher degree of skill that a genin, that is true. But what is more important is that a chunin is a potential leader. He has to show an ability to plan ahead and show proper judgement. Shikamaru showed excellent analytical skills as he was the one who planned out the actions of his teammates during the pursuit of the sand genin. Despite being overpowered eventually, his strategy allowed the more powerful members of his team to engage Gaara of the sand without fearing interference. As for you Tenten, you showed quick thinking and proper judgement by aiding Toero-san here. The reasoning you gave in your report show that you though through the possible available variants and kept in mind not only your own survival, but the wellbeing of the village. Tenten, to a degree I owe you my life."

"Oh, well, I didn't do much really, I just …. "

"You fulfilled your objectives to the fullest. You also obeyed my orders without any hesitation and located Jiraiya. Without the aid of my student there would've been no hope of stopping Orochimaru and the resurrected kages. You are right, you didn't fight much, but your actions were of outmost importance. You have every reason to be proud and accept the promotion."

"Umm, yes, Hokage-sama."

"It doesn't mean that you can take it easy. You both should try to improve your skills further, you have even more reason to do that now. Before you leave, I want to give you your first mission. A mission of great importance."

"Already?" Shikamaru sighed. It was clear that he wasn't very eager to get to work, but he didn't have much choice actually.

"Please, listen carefully, this is no time to be childish." Hiruzen narrowed his eyes slightly and Tenten noticed that the lazy Nara almost instantly snapped awake. It seemed that the hokage's ire, no matter how mild, also worked as a cold shower for someone.

"It became clear, that Orochimaru aims to capture Uchiha Sasuke in order to obtain the sharingan. We can't allow such a powerful bloodline to fall into the hands of a sinister and very dangerous rogue ninja. You will aid Toero-san to prevent such from happening."

"Wait, is that the reason he tried to kill Sasuke in the forest of death?" Tenten turned to Toero.

"Yes. His actions were to a degree justified, but I find the measures he was willing to take a bit too drastic. You are to try to achieve success without unnecessary mortalities."

"But how exactly are we going to do that? I don't think that being Sasuke's bodyguards will work out all that well." Tenten mentioned.

"Quite right." Hiruzen nodded. "The village suffered heavy damage and we lost many good shinobi in the fighting. But despite that we have to keep doing missions to fund the reconstruction of the village. That means that I will not be able to spare jounin level shinobi on babysitting missions. That is where you come in. You will accompany the genin teams on all D and low threat C rank missions. I will not assign any higher level missions for now, so this will be a good way for you to get some experience as team leaders."

"Hokage-sama, but what about our own genin teams, are they getting disbanded?" Tenten asked.

"Don't worry, they are not disbanded. But for a while you will have to accept certain changes. First of all your own genin team, Tenten. Lee has a long recovery in front of him so you are a member short. I will temporarily assign Neji to team ten to replace Shikamaru. Shikamaru, you will take charge of this new team ten or act as second in command when Asuma will be around."

"Great, goodbye midday naps." Shikamaru rolled his eye.

"Tenten, I will assign you to team eight and Toero, who joined us as a chunin rank ninja will work with team seven. Teams will also often have to work together so I expect high level of cooperation and keep in mind your mission regarding Uchiha Sasuke. Also, in order to avoid any kind of complications I inform you, that Toero will be in charge of the assignment regarding Sasuke. I want each of you to provide me with weekly reports."

"Yes, hokage-sama." The new chunin accepted the order, while Toero just nodded silently.

"Very good. Here are the files with the information on all the genin you will work with. Meet those teams and bring them here by noon to get your first missions. Oh, you all can get your new chunin vests and the necessary equipment in the armory. The genin team jounin instructors are informed and should be with the teams, send them here once you find them. Dismissed."

"Whoah, I can't believe it, we made chunin. Awesome." Tenten grinned when she and her two colleagues walked out of the hokage tower.

"This is so troublesome."

"Shikamaru, aren't you happy to get a promotion?" Tenten asked.

"Happy, about what? I didn't even want to become chunin. I will have so much more work now and I will have to give orders and write reports and train more. Such a drag. Not to mention I will also be stuck with your jerk of a teammate from the Hyuga clan."

"Neji isn't that bad. If anything he can be relied upon to get the job done, so you should be thankful. He won't ask you unnecessary question or argue against orders."

"When it comes to unnecessary questions and arguing against orders I have Ino to deal with. Whatever, I better go find that Neji guy and then find my team." Shikamaru walked off towards the Hyuga clan compound. Since Neji's team wasn't active that was the more likely place to find him. Tenten and Toero on the other hand had to go towards the training grounds.

"So, are you glad to be a hidden leaf chunin?" Tenten asked Toero.

"It serves it's purpose." Toero answered and Tenten didn't really understand if he confirmed or denied being glad about it. He sounded indifferent.

"Anyway, I never thanked you for, you know, saving me when the invasion began." Tenten turned away for a moment.

"Do not mistake my actions for any form of affection. I helped you because I required your aid. Nothing more."

"Whoah, you don't have to be so negative about it. You helped me, I am grateful, live with it."

"You should be more grateful to yourself. Besides, I do not consider that you are in any way indebted to me. I helped you, you helped me. There is nothing we can demand from each other."

"Sure, I get that. Still thanks."

Toero didn't reply in any way, he just opened the file hokage gave them and began reading. Tenten figured she should do the same. Among the other things the file contained information regarding the training grounds the genin team mostly used, along with the details on their abilities, psychological profiles, even some rather personal details. Tenten didn't exactly like it when she understood that there was most likely the same information available regarding herself.

"Alright, I have to turn here. The file says that team 7 usually meets on a bridge not far from here, so just walk down the road. Nice to have you join us."

"Why is that?" Toero turned to Tenten lowering the file.

"Well, I'd hate to be your enemy to begin with." Tenten remembered how sore she was after a beating he gave her in the forest of death.

"I can say the same. I have no need for additional enemies and I am glad that we are not."

"Well, that is honest at least. Bye." Tenten disappeared around the corner and Toero kept on walking, reading through the files.

…

"How can he be late every single time?" Naruto kicked the railing of the bridge from frustration. Kakashi told them to get to their usual meeting spot early in the morning and was once more late.

"Calm down, you are not helping." Sasuke spoke, leaning on the railing on the opposite side of the bridge. Sakura ended up standing between them.

"I am not sure, but I am sort of happy that some things don't change." Sakura sighed. She couldn't blame Naruto. She long since understood that Naruto had amazing amount of energy and for him it was nearly unbearable to sit around doing nothing. Sasuke on the other hand was thinking while watching his obnoxious teammate. He admitted to himself, that he most like would never have survived the battle with Gaara alone. As for Naruto, his chances would've been not much better in the same situation. But when they combined their efforts, they truly achieved something amazing. Perhaps this was what Kakashi was trying to teach them all along, stressing the importance of teamwork. It wasn't the kind of power one could feel in their own body, but the results were evident. Also when it came to power, Sasuke couldn't help but remember the strange around and sudden burst of energy Naruto seemed to gain during the battle. During such time Naruto felt different, he had something in common with a rage filled animal. It wasn't than cold suffocating hatred, but boiling animalistic rage.

The Uchiha was curious about it, but didn't ask yet. Whenever Naruto achieved anything or demonstrated a new ability he would brag and boast about it, but not about this. There had to be something behind it something very personal and probably very painful. Sasuke was curious, but he knew better than most that bringing up painful topics was like reopening an old somewhat healed wound. Sasuke could wait, for now.

"Hey there, waiting for me?" Kakashi appeared behind Sakura making the girl jump away with a scream.

"What do you think you are doing sneaking up on a girl like that?!" Sasuke grabbed her chest breathing heavily.

"A perfect demonstration how easy it would be to kill you." Sakura again heard a voice behind her and turned around finding an unfamiliar figure standing behind her a few steps away.

"Oh no, no, nothing like that." Kakashi waved. "I was just messing with her."

"Hokage expects you."

"Hmm? Oh right. Well, I am off. Toero-san here will be in charge of you, so behave." Kakashi gave his genin his weird eye smile and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"What are we, five, telling us to behave like we are a bunch of brats." Naruto waved his fist at the disappearing puff of smoke, hoping that Kakashi could still hear them.

"What did he mean you will be in charge of us?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes turning to Toero.

"Higher rank ninjas will attend more pressing matters now that the village suffered significant damage. Chunin ranked ninjas will accompany genin on lower rank mission for now."

"A chunin, what will you be able to teach us?" Sasuke grunted. Luckily neither of the genin present knew that Toero nearly killed two of them in the forest of death and perhaps it was for the best.

"You ask unnecessary question, Uchiha Sasuke." Toero spoke.

"Hey, I remember you. You were detained by ANBU after the invasion stopped." Sakura remembered meeting Toero in the street when an injured ANBU was dumped on them.

"Those matters do not concern you. All you need to know is that your kage has appointed me to this position. You will follow my orders."

"And if we don't?" Naruto asked. Toero remembered the blonde genin. He had the power to surprise even Orochimaru himself. A potentially powerful force against the snake sannin, but unrefined and unable to utilize his full potential. Toero saved him, as the blonde clearly could be of use at a later date.

"There is no 'if' in this. You will follow my orders." Toero's voice didn't change, but something made Naruto close his mouth.

"Hokage instructed me to take you to his office and get a mission by noon. There is still over an hour until then."

"Oh, so what will we do until then, Toero-san?" Sakura remembered that Kakashi referred to the chunin by that name.

"I have read through the information I was provided on your team." Toero held up the file folder he still had in his hand. "I made several conclusions."

"So share with us." Sasuke looked Toero in the eyes, but found it uncomfortable.

"Uzumaki Naruto. You obviously favor large scale attacks. You either distract the enemy providing an opening with your clones, or inflict large damage by the means of the same technique or the summoning."

"Summoning?" Sakura looked at Naruto who just scratched the back of his head with a goofy grin.

"I'll show you later Sakura-chan."

"Ninjutsu techniques are not the means of entertainment. You will refrain from such pointless actions while I am around."

"Pfft, fine." Naruto turned away.

"Uchiha Sasuke. You are more oriented on dealing with a single target, taking it out by a combination of taijutsu attacks and high level ninjutsu."

"Hn." Sasuke nodded. This was more or less correct.

"Haruno Sakura. Good theoretical knowledge, high level of chakra control. You combat capabilities are severely lacking."

"Hey, don't be mean to Sakura-chan!" Naruto raised his voice noticing that Sakura looked down when Toero told her about his opinion regarding her abilities.

"I speak the facts, Uzumaki. If you truly care for your teammate, you will stop defending her from the harsh reality and will help her overcome her weaknesses."

"You could've said in some other way and not make her feel low." Naruto objected.

"I am not here to make you happy. Every creation is only as strong as it's foundation."

"Huh? What is that supposed to mean?" Naruto frowned.

"It means that our team is only as strong as the weakest member of our team. This chunin has a point." Sasuke said.

"I am ….. I mean I want to get better and ….. " Sakura began, but closed her mouth unable to find the words.

"Whenever Hatake-san is not present I will supervise your team. That includes helping you to improve your abilities."

"Oh, so you will help us train? Awesome, you know any cool jutsu you will teach us?" Naruto asked instantly.

"I do not specialize in ninjutsu. But I know of training methods that will help you become stronger and faster. When it comes to jutsu you have a walking library named Hatake Kakashi to help you."

"He doesn't teach us much jutsu." Naruto complained.

"Then it is not the time for you to know more."

"Then what will you each us?" Sasuke frowned and suddenly was forced to catch Toero's bow.

"Pull back the string of my bow."

"Hn, fine." Sasuke shrugged. The weapon seemed fairly light and Sasuke easily pulled it up. He took the sting with his middle and index finger and tried pulling it back. He released it almost instantly after pulling it back several inches. It felt impossible, the rough string dug into his flesh so hard that he was sure it was moments from actually breaking skin. Toero took the bow back and easily did what Sasuke could not. It seemed like Toero was doing it without much effort, his hand was steady, not trembling from the strain as he held the string not far from his ear.

"You can start questioning me when you will be able to pull back the string of my bow."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Team seven hated D rank missions and for a good reason. The took time, provided minimal payment and were not worth of anyone calling himself a ninja. It simply ridiculous that a trained shinobi, genin or not, had to do tasks that were basically manual labor. A trained monkey could do it. The genin didn't argue much though. After Sasuke failed to handle a bow Naruto also demanded to give it a try, but ended up cutting his fingers. Sakura didn't even want to hold it after that, besides the outcome was so obvious it was painful.

After the invasion many buildings needed repairs and it was expected that the hokage had sent the team to help clearing out the rubble left at the ruined arena. It was the first time that members of team 7 saw the destruction that was caused here. It was a terrifying picture. The massive arena which once looked quite indestructible was now half way to being reduced to ruins. Right now workers were busy removing the rubble, trying to find pieces that could later be used or salvaged, but that was a rare occurrence. The building had it's supporting structure blasted to bits and it crumpled under it's own weight crushing everything inside.

The genin were given a task of helping with the removal of rubble. Sasuke referred to it as mindless manual labor, but with a sigh got to work following Naruto whose clones were all over the place already, in some cases causing more chaos than actual help. Still they were extra hands and that was worth much.

"You three, come over here." Toero called out to the genin. Team seven, not counting the clones that kept doing whatever tasks they had approached Toero who was standing before a very large piece of concrete, partially buried under the rubble. Several workers were standing nearby scratching their heads. Removing a piece this big could take much time, as there was no way it would be possible to lift it by any available means.

"How would you remove this obstacle. Keep in mind, without additional damage."

"Damage to what, everything here is crushed already!" Naruto waved his hands around.

"I asked you a question, answer it, Uzumaki, or keep your mouth shut."

"It is too big to move, we need to break it apart." Sasuke offered, while Naruto was busy glaring at Toero.

"Right, maybe Naruto's clones can get tools and …. " Sakura began

"You do realize that your teammate would have to waste chakra just to remove a single piece of rubble? When the manpower he creates is evenly distributed around the area that is one thing. But concentrating his fragile clones in one area might cause consequences."

"This is a piece of rubble, what will it do, bore me to death?" Naruto grumbled.

"It will force you to waste chakra. In other words you will waste your power."

"So what, I have tons of chakra."

"Your supply is still limited and with the way you are using it, you will run out very quickly unless you learn to think before using it."

"He compares this to a battle situation. He is right." Sasuke nodded. "What do we do then?"

"Use these." Toero pulled out several explosive notes.

"But you said to cause minimal damage, an explosion hardly will do that." Sakura shook her head.

"That is if you do it without thinking. The explosion generates force that you need to direct. Look carefully as I will not repeat myself. Kunai." Naruto shrugged and tossed the archer one of his own kunai. Toero then approached the piece of rubble and made a small hole with a kunai. After that he took a single explosive tag and rolled it up before putting it into the opening.

"Place tags in a straight line a few feet away from each other in a similar manner. Then, place additional tags here and here." Toero instructed and tossed a kunai back to Naruto, who barely caught it. The genin shared a look and got to work. It wasn't the most fun thing to do, but sure was better than digging in the rubble. It took the genin around twenty minutes to place the tags correctly. The workers in the mean time carefully pulled back to a safe distance.

"Detonate." Toero motioned to Sakura who nodded and made an activation seal, setting off the tags. The explosion was violent, but didn't do much damage as it seemed. It took only a few moments for the smoke and dust to clear until they saw that the massive piece of concrete was still where it was.

"Well that was useless. We didn't do much at all and … " Naruto closed his mouth when he saw cracks appear all over the giant piece of rubble until it neatly fell apart. The pieces now could be easily moved by a combined effort of two or three men.

"Hn." Sasuke looked over their handy work. It looked like the concrete was sliced through by a giant knife.

"Explosive tags are an invaluable tool, but only when they are used correctly. They can be used to make traps, or destroy buildings and fortifications. The problem you will always need to solve is how to direct the explosion towards the weakest point of the structure. Do it correctly and the results will be rewarding. Also remember, that using these tools will allow you to conserve your chakra."

"Oh, that is very … " Sakura began, but Toero didn't let her finish.

"Get to work."

Unlike Kakashi Toero also participated in completing the task, but it still took a while to remove the remains of the now blown up piece of rubble. But once that was done the genin were allowed to leave. The man in charge of the civilian workers thanked them for the help provided as they saved them around two days of hard labor.

…..

"I so could use a shower right now." Sakura looked over herself. Her clothes were covered in dust after digging in the rubble for several hours. Her teammates didn't look much batter, though Naruto was more concerned about being hungry.

"Oh, quit it about Ramen. You got paid and will be able to buy all the ramen you want after we are done for today." Sakura rubbed her face in frustration, but at least Naruto stopped ranting about his favorite food.

"I wonder what training did that guy have in mind?" Sasuke stretched slightly. He wasn't all that tired after working and was eager to do something more productive. The very least they learned something, so this D rank wasn't a total waste of time in his opinion.

"I don't know. He just told us to wait here. I don't have a good feeling about this." Sakura said with clear worry.

"Whatever, as long as we get stronger it will be worth it. I say let that guy throw everything he's got at us, we can take." Naruto grinned and punched air.

"You don't want to fight me, Uzumaki, for I strike to kill." Naruto slowly turned around and saw Toero standing behind him with a blank expression on his face.

"Err, I …. Ughh." Naruto had something shoved into his hands.

"What do I do with this?" Naruto held up a long thick stick, most likely a branch of some tree that was cleared of leaves. Sakura and Sasuke received similar training gear if you could call it that.

"This exercise will help increase your physical strength, endurance and most of all patience. Some of you require the last thing more than others."

"So, what do we do, fight with these?" Naruto swing the stick like a crude replica of a sword, nearly hitting Sasuke in the head.

"Watch it dobe."

"Oh relax, like you would've died if I hit you with a stick. You aren't that fragile, teme."

"Hold it up." Toero demonstrated with his bow, holding it in his stretched hand.

"Now what do we do, Toero-san?" Sakura asked as she and her teammates stood like three idiots holding large sticks.

"You stay like that for the next three hours."

"WHAT?!" even Sasuke wasn't hiding his outrage over doing something like this.

"Lower it and I will do something you won't like." Toero put the bow back on his back.

"This is stupid, I won't do it." Naruto dropped his stick and crossed the hands on his chest with an angry expression. Before he could do anything else he was grabbed by the clothes and thrown towards a nearby river.

"Hah, I am not that easy!" Naruto landed on the water surface much to the amazement of his teammates. It seemed impossible, but Naruto was standing on the water surface as if it was solid ground.

"Hey, where is that guy?" Naruto looked around, but neither he nor his teammates noticed how Toero disappeared.

"Naruto, behind you!" Sakura yelled, but it was too late. The blonde felt someone grab his head and roughly push him beneath the water surface. Naruto struggled, but Toero's fingers felt like iron claws, digging into the back of his had with enough force to cause pain. But worst of all that due to his struggling Naruto began to quickly run out of oxygen.

"Let him go!" Sakura demanded. She was genuinely afraid for her knucklehead friend who only managed to create splashes in the water, but never pull himself out enough to get some air as Toero kept him down while crouched down on the water surface. Since both were in the middle of the river it was nearly impossible for Sakura and Sasuke to do much.

"Bwahhh!" Naruto was suddenly pulled up just as Sasuke prepared to throw several shuriken to try and distract Toero. The next second Naruto was pushed under the water again. It was like torture, until Toero pulled Naruto up once more and tossed him to the shore.

"Any more, objections?" Toero slightly narrowed his eyes, but there were none. Naruto sat up, coughing, water streaming off of him.

"Get back to work." Toero stepped ashore and the genin once more pulled up their crude training gear, afraid to object. Even Sasuke admitted that he was unable to detect Toero move, though he never activated his sharingan. One thing was clear, Toero was a ninja of a higher level than they were.

"Hey, dobe, how were you able to stand on the water?" Sasuke asked. Toero never said anything about them not talking.

"Pervy sage taught me. It is like tree climbing only harder."

"Who is the pervy sage?" Sasuke asked. Toero who stood a small distance away didn't seem to mind them talking.

"He means Jiraiya, the student of the third hokage." Sakura explained, feeling her hand getting a bit tired while holding something in such a manner. "He really is a pervert, so I guess the nickname is justified."

"He doesn't even hide it." Naruto frowned, hating how the wet clothes fell. He wanted nothing more than give Toero a good pounding, but then again he didn't want another cold bath in the middle of a river. "Man, I bet Lee would love this exercise."

"This is actually not as easy as it seemed at first." Sakura frowned. Holding her hand stretched was getting harder and harder. Naruto suffered from the extra weight of the wet sleeve and also began feeling uncomfortable. Sasuke had similar problems, but wasn't paying that much attention yet.

"So that is where you learned to summon?"

"Yeah. Pervy sage is one hell of a perv, but he is a strong ninja. Kakashi-sensei asked him to help me out while he trained you, also having the sharingan and all."

"Makes sense." Sasuke nodded. "Me and Sakura could also make use of such a skill."

"I guess. It is supposed to be something all ninjas should be able to do, I just needed to boost my chakra control. I will show you later, when I will not be holding up a stupid stick." Naruto scowled, wishing he could snap the thing.

"As a shinobi, you will sometimes be forced to spend time waiting for your enemy, patiently, often in not the best of conditions. Both your body and your mind should be able to endure, otherwise you will be located and killed." Toero spoke from his spot. "I know that you are starting to feel pain, your muscles slowly failing you. You should learn to ignore pain and push away fear. Your enemy will not hesitate to exploit any weakness you will show."

"How can one simply ignore pain?" Sakura asked, her hand starting to tremble.

"You tend to ignore things you get used to. You have two hours and forty minutes to go."

"This is impossible for us." Sakura frowned.

"What if the mission you will be given is impossible? Failing is not an option, for failure will mean death. If you are unable to move past your own limits, you will without a doubt die. If that is so, save me time and drown yourselves."

"I hate you!" Naruto yelled. This guy was driving him nuts. It was like he was trying to convince them that they were weak, that they didn't have a chance, that they were a lost cause. That wasn't true. They went through too much already for it all to be meaningless.

"Hatred is a weakness."

Sasuke's head snapped up when he heard that.

"Hatred is blind, it only serves destruction, in most cases your own destruction. Shinobi must learn to control his emotions."

"We heard that crap about shinobi being emotionless tools. I won't follow that way." Naruto shook his head and dropped the stick once more, more slamming it against the ground in anger. Sakura who was barely holding up lowered her hand with a moan. A moment later Sasuke did the same, though he could keep it for longer, he simply found no use in it.

"You do not listen Uzumaki. Controlling emotions is not the same as getting rid of them. Your passions may direct your motives, but should not influence your immediate actions. If you despise your enemy, kill him, but do not charge him in blind rage, formulate a plan, make preparations and make sure that there will be no escaping your attack. Otherwise it will always be a gamble. Are you willing to gamble your lives?"

"No, of course not, but ninjas always risk their lives. We should always be prepared for the worst." Sakura remembered her lessons from the academy.

"It is not about ruling out the risk, it is about minimizing it. For that to happen, you will need determination, skills and the ability to control your own actions. You have the first and tapped your potential with the second as for the third, you completely lack any emotional self-control. Yes, you too Uchiha."

"Fine, I get that, we have room for improvement." Naruto looked away, feeling how anger began to leave him.

"We really want to get better." Sakura agreed with her blonde teammate.

"I fail to see that. You barely managed to hold a stick for half an hour. Some of you failed due to their physical capabilities, some due to emotional turmoil, some due to the lack of patience. But what is important is that you miserably failed at a task of holding up a stick. Thus, yes, Uzumaki all three of you are pretty pathetic."

That conclusion was like a cold bucket of water. The three genin didn't exactly think about it, but it was true. A simplest order possible, but they failed for various reasons and failed badly.

"But …. but …. it was a training exercise, I mean it wasn't a … a ….. a life threatening situation and … and ….."

"Listen. If I give you an order, you carry it out, without complaints. I can show you ways to become stronger, but I will not babysit you, hold your hand if you get hurt or make you feel better if you will fail at something. I am not your friend, I don't care if you will hate me, I will simply do what I was told to do and that is to supervise your group during the absence if your jounin instructor. You have no word in the matter, your opinion is of no significance. You are shinobi, you will fulfill your obligations."

"Fine, if you can make us better shinobi, I am willing to try." Sasuke nodded.

"Sasuke, but maybe …. "

"You heard him, Sakura, we don't really have a choice. In this case I want to get as much as I can out of this situation."

"Whatever, no way am I going to let you get ahead of me, teme. Whatever you can handle, I can handle."

"Whoever said you will be handling the same things?" Toero shook his head. "Uzumaki, get into the forest and gather as much of these as you can." Toero pulled out several leaves from his pouch. He must've gathered them when he was out getting those accursed sticks.

"Alright, I'll just …. "

"Without clones. Now go."

Naruto was clearly ready to object, but grumbled something and disappeared among the trees after taking the leaves as an example.

"Maybe I should go too, I am better at such things." Sakura offered.

"You get in the water and swim against the flow of the water."

"Huh? But, I didn't bring ….. "

"I don't care, Haruno." The girls went a bit red as she looked back at the river. The water would warm this time of year, but still, she would either have to undress, or swim in her clothes. She didn't mean this when she said she wanted a shower. With a sigh she approached the water, conflict written all over her face. She finally settled on kicking off her sandals and got into the water. She wasn't exactly the best swimmer around and the water flow was somewhat strong here. She basically remained in one place, despite doing her best to move upstream.

"Swimming involves using all the muscle groups, requires ability to control your breathing and quickly uses up energy of those with low stamina. You will do this every day I am around and preferably when I am not until you will be able to move up the stream at a steady pace."

Sakura obviously didn't answer. She simply couldn't, she needed her mouth to suck in air during the brief moments it was above the water surface. Sasuke tilted his head watching the scene and wondering what would he be doing.

"Don't use sharingan." Sasuke heard and began to turn around.

"Agghhh!" The Uchiha was suddenly shoved in the back stumbling forward. He looked around, but Toero was nowhere to be seen. Sasuke was really tempted to use his bloodline, but didn't. If he was going to learn anything, he would have to follow the rules. He was suddenly pushed in the back again, but only managed to hear faint footsteps.

"Eyes are not the only thing you have." Sasuke heard and was pushed hard enough to land face down. He quickly rolled over, but saw nobody. This would be along training session.

"Hey, will this be enough?" Naruto settled a whole bunch of leaves down. To his surprise he saw Sakura swimming in the distance and Sasuke on the ground sunbathing in his clothes. "What gives, you are having a vacation or something?"

"Naruto, quiet, he somewhere around here." Sasuke got up and looked around.

"Huh, what do you me …. "Naruto didn't finish, he was tossed forward, landing next to Sasuke.

"Dobe, back to back." Sasuke pulled Naruto up and they took their defensive position.

"What is going on, is this an exercise?"

"Yes, now just keep looking, he will try to sneak up on us."

"There, a shadow!" Naruto pointed to the side. Sasuke immediately turned when Naruto was pointing and they both were instantly pushed to the ground again.

"This will take a while." Naruto groaned.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

It was a painful and to a degree a humiliating experience to have Toero supervise your team. His methods were often borderline cruel, he never hesitate to use intimidation or even mild torture to enforce order. The genin soon understood that it was best just to do as he says, otherwise they would have to suffer and then still carry out his orders.

He wasn't really teaching them, itmostly felt like sharing experience, practical pointers, tricks and strategies. Toero never demonstrated a large variety in his abilities, but whatever he did seemed to be honed to perfection. Sasuke observed Toero move with his sharingan and had to admit that there was nothing unnecessary, nothing that had to be added or removed. There was never any hesitation, nothing that would give his opponent even a ghost of a chance.

As for the results, well, the result of the first few days were only physical and mental exhaustion. Sakura felt like her body was made of lead with her limbs being so heavy that she could barely drag herself around. After the first day she came home soaked and dead tired and fell asleep on a couch in the living room. After that she took a habit of always having a swimsuit, a towel and spare clothes prepared.

Sometimes Toero showed them things that did not involve humiliation. The leaves Naruto gathered turned out to be a herb that created mild toxins to scare off any insects. The archer showed them how to gather it, how to make in concentrated and powerful enough and how to modify their smoke bombs into a very unpleasant weapon. The genin spent half an hour coughing and washing their eyes to get rid of the burning sensation when Naruto somehow dropped his first bomb that detonated under his feet.

The genin learned to rely not only on their sight, but also on their other senses, that was a task Sasuke struggled the longest, while Naruto somehow picked it up almost instinctively. They learned several techniques of using a kunai in close combat, not just as a simple stabbing weapon, but as an elaborate and versatile tool. Combinations of strikes and grabs aimed to ruin the balance, crippled and then finish off the opponent. Sakura noticed that every such technique Toero demonstrated ended with a blow to the vital area. They also learned pain locks that could be used to subdue an opponent and then knock him out.

Basically he never taught them advanced ninjutsu or genjutsu, no new taijutsu styles or some other higher level abilities. He taught them how to survive in the world of the shinobi which was quite merciless. He shared his own philosophy which showed him to be a realist accepting the cruelty of the world.

All in all the genin now considered D rank mission as a time to rest. They didn't care any longer if the tasks were not worth of a real shinobi, it was often the most peaceful time of day for them. But even then Toero sometimes turned their attention to some aspects of the life of the shinobi, aften twisting the situation in a way to resemble conditions on the battlefield. The genin then had to decide on the correct course of action aiming it to be most efficient.

When it came for their free time the genin mostly just rested, but Sasuke and Sakura did make Naruto show them the water walking exercise. Luckily they got a hang of pretty quickly.

"Hmm, it is not like Toero-san to be late." Sakura said. She was tired and out of breath having just finished the everyday routine of swimming for over two hours against the flow of the river. It was becoming less of a torture though.

"Maybe he is thinking of another thing to ….. show us." Naruto looked nervous. If Toero demonstrated something new that often resulted in some kind of an unpleasant experience.

"Maybe ….. hey!" Sakura suddenly jumped forward went into a roll while pulling out a kunai.

"Relax, relax, it is just me." Kakashi waved his hands appeared just as Sakura leapt away. He was a bit surprised that the girl managed to detect him in time to leap away like that, so perhaps she was getting better. He would without a doubt miss her terrified screams.

"Kakashi-sensei? Where have you been?!" Naruto pointed at his sensei angrily.

"A-rank patrol mission. Important, but nothing much happened. It was actually a bit boring, but oh well, we can't get action all the time, now can we? Oh, Sakura, why is your hair damp?"

"Because I was swimming in the river." The girl answered with an annoyed look on her face. She could bring a towel, but that in no way helped to dry her hair completely, so she was forced to let it dry the old fashioned way.

"Swimming? You guys were really taking it easy while I was away." Kakashi sighed. "And here I hoped you were busy trying to improve …. what was that for?" Kakashi tilted his head allowing a kunai to fly by. Surprisingly it was Sasuke who threw it. The young Uchiha's eye was twitching as he stood in front of his sensei with his hand still stretched after a throw. His fellow genin didn't seem exactly pleased with Kakashi's comment.

"Easy?" Sakura hissed pulling up her kunai.

"You are the one who had a boring easy mission. I nearly drowned the first day you were gone!"

"Drowned? I thought you knew how to swim, Naruto."

The genin had an amazing amount of negative energy piled up and it really had to be released. They never dared to act out against Toero, since they would be lucky to just end up in a hospital, but Kakashi, he was just asking for it.

"Shadow clone jutsu. Get him!"

"Wait, wait, there is no need for this …. " Kakashi took a step back. He liked messing with his genin, but he never thought they would act so violently. What on earth was Toero doing with them to get them so pissed that even Sakura got ready to attack him. Naruto he could imagine, Sasuke could do it to test his own abilities, but for Sakura to look so murderous all of a sudden, that Kakashi didn't expect.

"Of all the ….!" Kakashi began dispatching the clones. Surprisingly they were somewhat harder to land a solid hit on. Kakashi had to use more elaborate means to keep up with the growing numbers of clones.

"No seals!" one of the clones yelled and simply grabbed Kakashi's fingers. The masked jounin frowned and swung his hand throwing the clones back, when suddenly saw someone drop from above. Kakashi leaned back, a tip of a kunai sliding across the surface of his forehead protector. With shock Kakashi realized that Sasuke tried taking out the still covered sharingan eye.

"Stop it already!" Kakashi spun around kicked two more clones away, but the third tried hitting him in the knee with a kunai, a potentially serious injury that could greatly limit mobility. The jounin moved back and went into a roll, avoiding the attack, only to face Sasuke again. Kakashi pulled out his own kunai blocking the strike, but the young Uchiha slid the blade to the side, aiming to ram the pummel into Kakashi's face. The jounin went down, but Sasuke immediately put his kunai into a reverse grip striking in the opposite direction now.

"This is getting out of hand." Kakashi slid back after jumping back and avoiding the strike. Once more Sasuke had a clear aim behind his attack. The strike would've sliced through Kakashi's wrist muscles and that would make it impossible to form some of the seals. For a ninja whose main strength was the use of various ninjutsu that would be a horrible injury. The quick reflexes allowed the jounin to escape only with a torn sleeve.

Kakashi moved back, towards the forested area, while Sasuke, Naruto and several clones surrounded him from three sides. Suddenly a clone jumped at him. It seemed like a simple frontal assault.

"Fire style: Fireball jutsu!"

Kakashi cursed. The clone for a second limited his view and Sasuke used the moment to launch a fire based attack. The fireball destroyed the clone but instead of Kakashi there was just a burning log.

"They are really out to get me." Kakashi shook his head, hiding behind a tree. He looked down and saw a faint trail of smoke. He avoided the blast when the tag detonated, but to his surprise saw that the explosion also made the tree start falling right on him. Kakashi realized that this was Sakura's handy work. Kakashi moved to the side, but saw two kunai land in front of him and to the left, also with explosive tags attached. With the tree almost ready to crush him that left him only one route to retreat, to the right and Kakashi dived away, as the tree fell down.

"Oh great." Kakashi frowned as he stood up. He ended up in a web of metal wires. Looking around revealed none of his genin but they were around. Soon enough a stream of fire went along one of the metal wires.

"Sasuke." Kakashi realized. The fire ignited several more tags and Kakashi once again retreated, using his amazing agility to avoid the wires. They still slowed him down as touching them would most likely result in more traps getting set off.

"Got to get out of the forest." Kakashi ran. He dodged a barrage of shuriken, some clearly aimed at his feet. He then dispatched two more clones, but not before one dropped something.

"Oh damn." Kakashi cursed quickly jumping out of the strange smoke. He got out in time coughing, but feeling only slight burning sensation in his only visible eye. Where the hell did that come from. He knew every weapon shop in the village and none sold smoke bombs with such effects. But he quickly remembered that according to reports Toero used something similar in the forest of death against Neji and Tenten.

"Fine, I am sorry I said you were lazy. Can we just call a truce?" Kakashi called out finally reaching the clearing. At first there was no answer, but soon his genin walked out from behind the trees. The stayed silent until Naruto began to laugh.

"Whoah, that felt good. Thanks Kakashi-sensei, we needed to let some steam out." Naruto grinned.

"It was good training." Sasuke nodded, his mouth curved into a small smile.

"Surprisingly, it did feel nice." Sakura admitted, feeling much better than before.

"Errrr, welcome?" Kakashi wasn't sure what to think. He had a torn sleeve, a scratched forehead protector, he smelled like smoke and still had slight burning in his visible eye. "For a moment I almost considered using my sharingan on you."

"Then why didn't you?" Naruto asked.

"You are genin, that would be humiliating." Still Kakashi had to admit obvious difference in how his genin acted during the fight. They didn't show abilities that were beyond them earlier, but they had those abilities refined into a deadly combination. They also seemed to be much more aware of their surroundings.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, are we going to go get a mission now?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, sure, that is why I am here. Later we can go eat somewhere to catch up on the news. I really want to know what you were doing lately."

"Yay, Kakashi-sensei you are paying for … "

"Sushi." Sakura stated.

"Not ramen?" Naruto turned to his female teammate with tears in his eyes.

"No, we will take turns choosing where to go. And since I am the only girl here, I get to decide first." Sakura declared.

"That is a very good idea Sakura." Kakashi agreed. He was somewhat afraid that with Naruto's love for ramen he would be broke by the end of the day.

…..

Hiruzen looked at the trio of chunin that had just give him the basic report. Toero was the only one without a chunin vest, but that thing was never obligatory. Shikamaru simply wore his over his clothes, while Tenten replaced her pink sleeveless shirt for a blue one she wore during the exam finals and had her vest over it, finding it very practical to carry her numerous scrolls with weapons sealed inside.

"So, the genin teams are doing well and you seem to handle your responsibilities as chunin." Hiruzen nodded. The teams indeed completed their missions and he had no reports of any trouble they caused. "What about your more ... your other other assignment."

"Toero, Shikamaru and I kept watch on the Uchiha's apartment during the nights, he never left." Tenten reported. Since Toero was supervising the team during the day it was his responsibility, that allowed Tenten and Shikamaru to handle their chunin duties. At night they took shifts, thus keeping Sasuke at a 24 hour watch.

"He seemed unable to, really." Shikamaru shrugged and thanked the gods he never had to do anything that would get him into the same condition as Sasuke.

"What about the curse seal?" Hiruzen looked at Toero.

"He never showed any signs of the seal being active. During our interactions I did provoke negative emotions out of him, annoyance, anger, but the sealing technique that was applied seems to hold. He never expressed any desire in actually using it intentionally and I preferred to not give him too much time to ponder over it."

"That is very good to hear. The jounin instructors will be in the village for a couple of days, after that, you are to resume your usual duties. Until then I have assignments for you. Shikamaru, your father requested you to help with the deer and I promised you would be free for a few days."

"Troublesome." Shikamaru sighed.

"Toero, Tenten, you will be stationed at the gates."

"Yes, hokage-sama." Tenten nodded, while Toero nodded. He never seemed to argue with the orders or express his opinion regarding them. Either way both were soon stationed in a small booth just next to the massive gates leading into the village. The gate was damaged during the invasion and wasn't repaired yet due to it's size. But that didn't really concern the two chunin. The gates were wide open most of the time anyway and all they had to do was to register everyone who entered or left the village. Unfortunately it seemed that today wasn't one of those busy days and Tenten got bored very quickly. Her partner wasn't exactly a person who could entertain her. He just sat silently and only his steady breathing showed that he was actually alive.

"So ….. you know I am a weapon expert and I was wondering … "

"Ask." Toero didn't turn to her, but since he answered Tenten decided to proceed.

"How come you can make your own weapons out of your body?"

"That ability was enforced upon me against my will."

"Oh, I didn't know that, but it is still convenient." Tenten tried to smile, but the atmosphere didn't allow that.

"I can't change it, so I try to make the best of it. In a way, you are correct."

"I figured as much. I have to carry my weapons sealed up in scrolls. They are still extra weigh, while you, you can grow weapons from your own flesh. Convenient."

"No method or technique is perfect."

"True. That is what Gai-sensei always says when he is not yelling about his youthful spirit. Damn, never thought I'd miss that."

If Tenten hoped for any words of comfort, she got none. Toero didn't comment on that in any way, just shifted slightly in his seat.

"Anyway, how does your technique work? Unless it is some closed guarded secret. In that case I am sorry I asked. I still don't ask Neji about his Hyuga clan business."

"I rarely talk about my abilities."

"Sorry I asked then." Tenten shrugged.

"Not because it is a secret. It is just I am rarely asked about them." Toero turned to her his expression still unreadable. But Tenten nodded. She figured he was going to continue.

"I push chakra into my own bone tissue. That forces a rapid mitosis of cells, allowing me to grow additional bone structures. Once the task is complete I cut off the chakra flow. By overpowering the cells with chakra I on the other hand cause them to die. Using that I can break off the additional bones and pull them out without causing any permanent damage to my basic skeletal structure."

"Oh, you need to control chakra pretty well to do that."

"It is easier manipulating your own chakra inside of your own body. Eventually you learn to perform such actions without thinking, similar to muscle memory."

"But isn't it harmful and painful to grow extra bones?" Tenten asked.

"Yes, it is. I have a somewhat increased healing ability and can recover quickly from puncture wounds unless I harm inner organs, that is why I prefer stabbing weapons and create them from my limbs. I will seriously injure myself by creating bone structures of a more complex nature. As for pain, you get used to that also."

"I think I am very happy with my scrolls now." Tenten leaned back in her chair looking slightly pale. Creating your own weapons sounded useful, but if it came at a price of constant self inflicted injuries, she'd just stick with the scrolls.

"Well, thanks for sharing that. It is nice to know that."

"No it is not. I can tell you are uncomfortable with this knowledge. It is understandable."

"True, I can't imagine tearing up my own flesh to do something similar, but you seem to be able to handle it, so I don't feel sorry for you."

"You shouldn't." Toero agree. "They say, that whatever does not kill us, only makes us stronger. Perhaps the price is high, but it is pointless to feel sorry for yourself. You either move or, or die where you stand, there are no alternatives in this world."

"It is sad that I agree with you, isn't it?"

"Perhaps." Toero slightly moved his shoulders and leaned forward, resting his hands on the table in front of them.

"Listen, there is a shop nearby. I'll go get lunch. You want anything?" Tenten stood up.

"Nothing particular." Toero shook his head.

"I'll just choose then." The girl sighed and ran off. She respected her new comrade for his obvious skills, but she didn't know what to think about him telling her about the nature of his abilities. He had no obligation to tell, yet he did. It could be that he just didn't care, but somehow she doubted that. Such information was personal, so most likely it was his way of showing some degree of respect.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Unlike the Uchiha clan, the Hyuga clan was never big enough to occupy a whole district. Also their social structure was quite different and demanded special arrangements. Despite that the Hyuga clan estate was one of the places most people knew of. After all the Hyugas were in high regards in Konoha, a clan with a famous bloodline, no less famous taijutsu style and a fierce reputation among the shinobi of the world. The Hyugas were strong and had very little patience towards incompetence.

The members of the main family resided in the estate. Despite it being a place of wealth and comfort, it was also a home to those who called themselves shinobi and was well defended. The estate was one of the few places in the village that didn't suffer any damage during the invasion, some enemy ninjas preferred to avoid the home of the members of the famous clan. Basically it meant that the members of the main family lived in a luxurious, but somewhat isolated fortress within the village. As for the branch family, they occupied several buildings around the estate, creating a perimeter that acted as an additional line of defense. Of course that meant that the branch family members were putting themselves at risk, but that after all was their purpose. The caged bird seal ruled out the possibility of the byakugan falling into the enemy hands and thus the enemy actually had little reason to attack the branch family.

"You will never achieve much this way." Hinata turned around when she heard a familiar voice. She was training, practicing juuken in one of the small training areas within the estate walls. She often practiced alone because the clan had little interest in her training. She was given the bare minimum of the instructions.

"Umm, Neji. Good morning." Hinata nodded politely. Even Neji couldn't tell if her trembling voice right now was the result of her timid personality or plain fear being in his presence.

"You are not suited for fighting the way you do." Neji said and Hinata lowered her eyes. "You will never beat me if you continue to try and fight like this."

"But .. I have to i-improve."

"That is your duty as a shinobi of the village and the member of the Hyuga clan, but you will not achieve that goal the way you are trying to do it."

"But I h-have no other w-way." Hinata said with her usual stutter.

"You are different than I and we both know that, Hinata-sama. You will get nowhere by trying to replicate the strengths of the others and not using your own."

"My own strength? I am not strong." Hinata shook her head.

"Your strength is not the strength of a Hyuga in our most conservative way. But you are not without talents. If one tactic doesn't work, it means that the chosen approach is wrong. That is simple logic."

"B-but …. "

"Fight me." Neji slid into his fighting stance and attacked Hinata without another word. She barely prepared herself, doing her best to fight him, trying to block his attacks using the usual juuken style. As before, she was no match. She slowly retreated until her back was pressed against a training post and Neji's palm stopped inches away from her face.

"Again." Hinata was given a second to catch breath, before Neji resumed his attack. It was the same, she was pushed back, until she nearly lost balance and stumbled back, giving Neji an opportunity to finish her, but Neji seemed satisfied with what he achieved as he didn't use the chance.

"You are trying to fight like me, but you will never be me." Neji said, ducked under Hinata's strike and the girl slid back after her rammed both palms into her stomach.

"What do you have, that I don't, what can you use? In what way, will I never be able to match up?" Neji kept on attacking, pushing the girl back. The difference was obvious. He was faster, stronger. His attacks were more precise. She was simply no match.

"Ahh." Neji again nearly caught her off balance. She had no time to block, no way to stop the next strike that she knew would hit her in the chest. She hated being weak, being a disgrace, being unable to go further.

"Huh?" Neji's eyes widened when Hinata somehow moved herself out of the way, spinning on one leg. Her sudden unorthodox move was so sudden that Neji moved past her on pure momentum and then stumbled to the side when Hinata struck him in the face. It was more of a slap than a real strike, but it stung. She had actually managed to land a solid blow.

Neji looked up and saw that Hinata was no less surprised by what occurred than Neji himself. She was looking between her hand and Neji with disbelief. Neji shook his head and attacked once again. His strikes rained upon his opponent, who again retreated under his assault. Neji blocked her weak attempt at counter attack and pushed her hands apart, preparing to knock her over, but Hinata suddenly leaned back, his stretched hand passing harmlessly over her. It wasn't how a juuken user was meant to move, but it worked against him.

The sparring match resumed and Neji noticed slight changes. Hinata seemed to move more fluidly, more adapting to his pattern of attacks instead of trying to counter it. Instead of piercing through she was flowing around. Neji was unfamiliar with this, but his experience still gave him an edge, eventually allowing him to knock Hinata down.

"That was …. better." Neji nodded being somewhat out of breath. He never had to work so hard to knock his cousin down before.

"Thank you, neji." Hinata stood up and nodded with a faint smile.

"You are far more flexible and agile than I am. We are not the same, Hinata-sama. If we will be strong, we will be strong differently."

"Umm, but w-won't my father be d-disappointed that I am fighting not like a H-Hyuga?"

"I can't answer that, Hinata-sama, but this is your best shot. You will have to go your own way to get strong." Neji went silent for a moment, thinking over something. "I apologize if we had …. misunderstanding in the past."

"Neji, you don't have to apologize …. Just because Naruto-kun …. "

"He turned out to be right about many things and I apologize because I admit he was correct. I still have much to think over and understand. As for his demand, I remember that Naruto-san never goes back on his word."

"No, he doesn't, never." Hinata shook her head with a smile.

"Unless I apologized, he promised to find me and break me, Hinata-sama."

"Then I accept you apology, for your sake." Neji and Hinata bowed to each other in mutual gratitude, though Hinata looked a bit red.

….

"He isn't late." Naruto stated the obvious.

"But is that a good or a bad thing?" Sakura wondered.

"One way or another, it is important. Why are you on time, Kakashi?" Sasuke looked at his sensei with a look that demanded a truthful answer. Kakashi himself just appeared in front of his students. It was actually quite ironic that they were more concerned and surprised at him being on time for once.

"Oh, was I usually that much late?" Kakashi asked innocently. His genin didn't answer, but their look was a mix of disbelief and annoyance. It was painfully obvious that their sensei was messing with them again, but such things could get old eventually. Without getting a direct answer Kakashi sighed and decided to get serious.

"A mission."

"Yes. A mission. An awesome mission?" Naruto asked grinning. His mind was already coming up with the possibilities.

"Well, it is a diplomatic mission for me and several more jounin. You see, the sand village just found out that Orochimaru had murdered their Kazekage and impersonated him for quite a while. They want our conflict to end and the alliance reestablished, so they are sending representatives and we are to escort them here." Kakashi explained.

"They have some nerve, after they attacked us and all." Naruto gave his opinion.

"Politics sometimes go against common sense, dobe. I think the third will accept, we don't need a long war." Sasuke sighed.

"Wait, does it mean that we will be supervised by Toero-san again?"

"That's right, you should go find him. Well, I am off, have fun while I am gone." Kakashi waved and disappeared in a puff of white smoke.

"Kakashi-sensei has a sick sense of humor." Sakura moaned miserably, while her teammates were thinking of ways to kill their sensei. Sasuke considered chidori too fast, while Naruto was favoring a good old pummeling by several dozen clones.

"We'd better go find Toero-san." Sakura sighed.

"Do we have to?" Naruto grumbled, but followed his teammates. For the first time they realized that they knew almost nothing about Toero and thus didn't have any idea where to look for him. All they knew was his name and rank and that was about it. Not nearly enough to locate someone quickly. Sasuke suggested looking through the training grounds. Instead of Toero they found someone else though.

Tenten stood in the middle of large clearing, constantly looking around as if expecting an attack. Various weapons were on the ground around her and among them something white could be seen.

"Oh, hey, Tenten, nice to see you … aghhhhh!" Naruto marched out into the clearing with a smile and barely dropped down in time as a barrage of shuriken flew over him after Tenten released them from her scroll. Just as she did something white dug into the ground right at her feet.

"Doesn't count, I got distracted." Tenten stomped.

"You nearly killed me!" Naruto jumped up, as Sakura and Sasuke alse appeared in the clearing.

"You should know better than bother others during training. You ruined my concentration, you orange idiot!" Tenten didn't look pleased.

"Training, what kind of training?" Sakura asked.

"You are asking questions that you should avoid asking." The voice was familiar and the genin saw Toero crouched down on a thick branch above them.

"He distracted me." Tenten pointed at Naruto.

"I fail to see how that is my problem." Toero replied after jumping down.

"Tsk, fine, you win, I died." Tenten sighed in defeat. She understood that it was pointless to argue. Toero didn't believe in fair play anyway. He would never take a direct approach if he could avoid it.

"Tenten-san, umm what is exactly going on?" Sakura asked.

"Training. The genin I am in charge of had some clan business to handle, so we decided that today they would be free of their ninja duties and that meant that I basically had nothing to do, same went for the sneaky creep next to you."

"I did not propose this, you did." Toero countered.

"But you agreed."

"I found your proposal practical. You are among the people capable of knocking my arrows in mid air, that means that you are a challenging obstacle."

"Arrows." Sasuke pushed a large shuriken out of the way and picked up a white bone arrow. This thing was familiar, he saw it before, but back then he was occupied with other matters. Something clicked as he turned to Toero. He should've guessed earlier. "You tried to kill us."

Tenten cursed looking at Toero who didn't object to accusations. He merely nodded and placed his bow on his back.

"I tried to kill you, Uchiha, while she saved you." Toero pointed at Tenten and then turned to Sakura. "You are shorter than your teammate, my arrow would've struck you in a non-vital area."

The pink haired girl paled after hearing that.

"You tried to hurt my friends!" Naruto launched himself at Toero, but the older ninja grabbed him in mid air and slammed him against the ground, pressing the blonde down with his knee.

"The village must make sure that the sharingan does not fall into the hands of an enemy. You must understand that in order to survive the ninjas have to do things that some would consider barbaric. You are shinobi, you will have blood on your hands, eventually. You will be responsible for deaths and suffering. You are not saviors, protectors, heroes. You are shinobi, servants of the village whose mark you bear."

"So, in order to prevent Sasuke from falling into Orochimaru's hands you tried to kill him?" Sakura yelled in outrage.

"This village had experience with the curse seal. It is known that it can influence a ninja, twist him and bring out the worse in him. Try remembering his actions and how his chakra felt back then, in the forest."

Sasuke saw how everyone, even his teammates looked at him. Sakura paled even more if that was possible. She remembered that feeling. That cold dark chakra, that suffocating sinister presence. Sasuke's cruelty, his pleasure at causing pain, his lack of hesitation to cause suffering.

"What?" Sasuke looked around. Tenten also remembered that feeling. She also had to admire how Toero got out of a sticky situation. He was an excellent liar, but he didn't even lie. He just didn't tell that he was not acting on hokage's orders and somewhat twisted some facts. But basically he told them the truth in a way that made his actions justified.

"Back then … Sasuke-kun, you turned into someone I couldn't recognize. You became …. a monster." Sakura looked away.

"And that was only the beginning. Sometimes it is better to end the problem before it goes out of hand. This village doesn't need another, traitorous Uchiha." Toero narrowed his eyes. The hokage provided him Tenten and Shikamaru with detailed information about Sasuke and his psychological profile contained notes on Itachi's betrayal.

Sasuke scowled, his palm curling into a fist so hard that his knuckles became white.

"I will never, be like he is. I refuse to become someone like him." Sasuke yelled, earning confused looks from Sakura and Naruto.

"You think others will just take your word for it, Uchiha? They are willing to give you a chance by sealing up that curse seal, but that is it. Trust is earned by spilling your own blood."

"You ….." Sasuke approached Toero. They stared at each other for a while in silence, you could almost feel the tension in the air.

"How can we trust you?"

"You can't." Toero stood up freeing Naruto, who pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Listen. If you ever see me any signs of me becoming anything like my brother, if you will see that I am ready to hurt those around me, kill me. You all, if you see that, kill me!" Sasuke looked at his teammates. Sakura was trembling visibly, Naruto just looked down.

"I won't like it, but if I will have no other choice I will." Tenten looked miserable saying that, but preferred to be honest. If Sasuke preferred death to becoming a traitor like his brother, then she would grant his wish. She respected him as a fellow ninja and his wishes.

"I will do it, quickly." Toero agreed.

"Good, I need to think." Sasuke walked off, disappearing among the trees.

"You, go talk to him." Toero pulled Naruto up and shoved him in the back towards where Sasuke went.

"Why Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Because I say so. You need to train, not cry over the cruelty of the world." Toero said and turned to Naruto.

"Yeah, sure, I am going." Naruto nodded and ran after his teammate.

…..

Those eyes, he could picture them so clearly no matter where he was. Those cold, merciless eyes that calmly watched those dearest to him slowly bleed on the floor of a place Sasuke once called his home. The eyes that killed everyone, that wiped away every smile, that made life hell.

Sasuke hated his brother, he wanted to find him and destroy him, erase him from existence, no trace, not even a memory should remain. His brother was a monster, a murder, someone who didn't deserve to live, who forfeited his very humanity just to obtain and test power. He had to be destroyed. But never before had Sasuke thought about the cost of his ambition. What use destroying Itachi if he himself would become no better. Why seek to destroy something if you yourself would become it's replica. Sasuke couldn't think of a fate worse than that and yet when earlier he saw Sakura, he recognized himself. His younger self that trembled before his brother that horrible night. Her eyes held the same fear, the same agony of realization. Sasuke felt sick after that, ready to throw up.

"I …. " Sasuke pulled out a kunai and pulled down the collar of his shirt.

"I will not become like you!" Sasuke raised the weapon preparing to carve the curse mark out of his own flesh, but something stopped him. The Uchiha looked up and saw Naruto gripping his wrist.

"Let go, Naruto."

"You can't fix it Sasuke, it won't work."

"You ….." Sasuke jumped up slamming Naruto against a tree. "What do you know of this. You think you understand how it feels to become an abomination?"

"Yes, yes I DO!" Suddenly Sasuke felt how Naruto brutally overpowered him, lifting Sasuke into the air. Once more Sasuke saw those red eyes, this time staring at him, rage and animalistic fury washing over him.

"I know of it, for I've seen the monster I can become!" The aura of anger and rage intensified and Sasuke activated his sharingan on pure reflex and once more saw something over Naruto, a shape, an image, an animal with nine long tails moving around in a dance of primal rage.

"You are … but it was killed."

"It was sealed!" Naruto threw Sasuke against the tree he himself was slammed against earlier. The horrible aura faded and Naruto slumped into a sitting position next to Sasuke, both not looking at each other.

"How?"

"The fourth did it. He needed a newborn or something, I don't really know. I guess I was unlucky to be born that day. Tsk, I didn't even know about it until I became genin."

"How does one live with something like this, with evil inside of you?" Sasuke rubbed his hand over his shoulder, over the curse seal.

"Toero is right about one thing. The pain, you get used to it. It never goes away, it just becomes a part of you and you learn to ignore it most of the time. You just live with it and learn to make the best of it and overcome it and if you give up, it consumes you."

"I see."

"But I learned that you don't need to carry this without the help of others. You, Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei, old man Hokage even Toero in his own sadistic way. People who accept you for who you are help, because everyday they remind you who you are. They keep you on track, but if you cut them off you get lost, you drown in the sea of your own anger and sorrow."

"And you just keep going no matter what." Sasuke nodded.

"What other choice do we have. Either we keep going or loose ourselves. And I don't want that overgrown pile of fur get the best of me."

"Then how do you use that chakra?"

"If the bastard takes residence in my guts, he might as well pay the rent. The fourth made the seal this way, so I could use this chakra. The pervy sage taught me how."

"That is useful. Fine, lets go, dobe, Toero is most likely torturing Sakura already, I don't want to miss that."

"Sure, teme." The due glared at each other, but then just began walking back. They made it back rather quickly and saw Toero almost where they left him, but Sakura and Tenten were nowhere to be seen.

"Will there be any other questions, accusations, objections, or are you ready to get back to work?"

Naruto and Sasuke shared a look and nodded to each other.

"Do your worst."


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"Ready for another mission, very good." Hiruzen set his pipe aside and looked through the available missions. Team seven waited calmly, as calmly as they could anyway. Luckily the third hokage didn't search long, as he looked up at the genin and their current team leader, who stood a bit behind them.

"I think you all can handle a C-rank mission. Not a very complex one, but still."

"A C-rank, yes!" Naruto grinned. "If we are lucky this will turn out to be an awesome adventure too, like last time."

"I nearly died, last time, dobe." Sasuke frowned.

"Yeah, really, Naruto. We pulled through last time, but that was pure luck in a way. You should be more careful about your wishes." Sakura agreed with Sasuke.

"Mission details." Toero requested not minding a verbal exchange between the genin that turned back to the old hokage when they heard him speak.

"There is a small village to the east of Konoha. It is not strategically important and is a fairly isolated community. But it still falls under our jurisdiction. It seems they have problems there." The third pointed to a spot on a map in front of him.

"Problems? What kind?" Naruto asked.

"Ahem, yes, I was getting to that. Being isolated they mostly settle minor problems by themselves and don't request our help without need. The village elder, a man named Kishi, sent me a mission request, claiming that there is a band of young people that began causing trouble."

"Hokage-sama, but is it wise to send ninjas to handle hooligans?" Sakura asked.

"Normally no, but this case is an exception. First of all the village I spoke of produces high quality timber and we need raw materials to repair the damage the village suffered. Kishi also named another matter that makes this mission ….. delicate."

"Come on, old man, we can handle it." Naruto declared and the old hokage rolled his eyes slightly. Naruto would never change his ways. If Naruto gave you a nickname it was both a sign of affection and respect and the old kage wasn't that proud or stuck up to feel annoyed over such nicknames, most of the time.

"Some of those, hooligans as you called them, are young members of the said community. I want you to handle the matter, but in no way to complicate our relations with that community."

"So, some bastards will get special treatment just because they are from that village?" Naruto clearly was displeased with such a turn of events.

"Precisely." Toero nodded. "The needs of your village will not always be in conformity with your own personal sense of justice."

"I am afraid that is so, Naruto." The third nodded.

"What did those guys do that the elder called for ninjas?" Sasuke asked suddenly.

"Ah, good question. As I said that village usually settles matters without outside help. Kishi gave me a very detailed description of the situation. At first it was simply minor acts of vandalism, disrupting the order. But recently those troubles intensified. Perhaps they got bolder figuring that Konoha would not enforce order after the invasion, having our hands full, I want that to be proven wrong, especially since a young woman was raped not so long ago there. I wouldn't call such people mere, hooligans." The third stated and looked sharply at Sakura who bit her lip.

"Thus your mission. Reach the village, get an update from the village elder, resolve the situation in a way to not strain our relations, return once the mission is complete."

"Understood." Toero nodded and looked at the genin. "Village gates, in one hour."

…..

"I am not late, am I?" Naruto ran up to his teammates being a bit out of breath.

"No, you are not, that is good." Toero said. Unlike the genin who carried backpacks Toero had a ninja style traveling bag over his shoulder. The reason was quite obvious as Toero carried his bow on his back and that meant that using a backpack was impractical for him. As for the bag itself, he long since recovered it from the half ruined building on the outskirts of Konoha he used as his base during the chunin exams.

"Hey, hey, how far is that village?" Naruto asked. He was happy to leave the village on another mission. D ranks were getting more annoying by the day and Toero was driving them nuts with his methods and remarks that often made them feel pretty damn low.

"We are shinobi, we should be able to get there in roughly three hours. There will be no waiting for those who will fall behind."

Toero jumped into the trees followed by the genin. It was a far better way to travel than simply walking down the road. When they protected Tazuna they had no other option but to walk at a civilian pace, but now in a horseman would have trouble keeping up with them as they jumped from a branch to a branch. It also required some degree of coordination and awareness not to run into some tree, or land on a weak branch that would snap under the weight. Also you sometimes had to grab a branch and swing yourself forward, use chakra to stick to vertical surfaces, or so on. It was harder than it looked and the genin understood that they had to keep up their concentration, which meant no conversations during the travel.

"There is our destination." Toero landed on a thick tree branch. Naruto landed on another one, while Sasuke landed in a crouching position on a tree trunk using chakra to stick to the surface. Sakura arrived last somewhat out of breath, but she never allowed a gap between her and her teammates to grow even though all moved quite quickly. She also didn't feel to drained or tired.

"Oh, this place is so beautiful." Sakura smiled. The small village was built on the shore of a small lake in the middle of the forest and had a very calm and peaceful look to it. A simple dirt road led away into the forest and one could see several small boats on the shore. Even if this wasn't a fisherman's village, it didn't mean that these people didn't like fresh fish on their table and the small lake provided that with ease.

The nearest villager directed them to the house of the elder, so it wasn't hard locating it. The ninjas noticed that the people around were looking at them and whispering, probably a real shinobi was an uncommon picture here. The ninjas also had a reputation of people you didn't want to mess with without a reason, so healthy curiosity was mixed with a nice portion of fear. Sakura admitted to herself that she didn't like such looks, but her teammates seemed indifferent.

"Elder Kishi?" Toero asked when a man in his fifties opened the door.

"Ah, you must be from Konoha, please, come in, come in." Naruto eyed the man curiously. In his imagination the village elder was supposed to be an old wrinkly man with long white beard speaking in riddles showing off his wisdom. This man, well, he looked fairly normal.

Kishi led them into the kitchen. His house wasn't big and lacked any luxuy, but it had a very comfortable feel about it, it made you feel welcome. A woman around the same age as Kishi, most likely his wife, began serving the meal, a typical gesture of hospitality. Not exactly a feast, but it could fill the stomach without any trouble.

"My name is Toero, I am a chunin in charge of this team. We received information regarding our mission, but would like more details."

"Yes, yes, of course." Kishi sat down at the table. "It started a couple of months ago. Some young men in the village were always ….. a source of trouble, getting into fights and …. you know, making life harder. We just though it was their young blood boiling. Young people don't appreciate a simple life of hard work, they seek excitement and don't appreciate the peace here."

"We wouldn't know much about peace." Sasuke looked up and Kishi blinked several times.

"Sorry, I am not used to talking to shinobi. Anyway, small time trouble we can handle. But then those troublemakers began to move in groups, breaking stuff, provoking others, causing unrest. The patience of people began to grow thin, but then came the news about the invasion and it became even worse. A few days ago the daughter of a local blacksmith was found … you know what happened. I had to act and so you are here."

"What can you tell us about these criminals."

"As I said some of them were identified as younger members of our own village, but there were also faces we didn't recognize. I am not sure what to think of it. All I know is that this has to stop."

"You said that you usually handle things without interference from the outside."

"When we can."

"Then we will respect your traditions. We will not be able to tell those from your village apart from those who are not from here. We will capture them and bring them here. You and your fellow villagers will identify those that are from here and you will be allowed to deal with them as you please. As for the outsiders, they will be not of your concern."

"Yes, thank you, that would be perfect. Do you need a place to sleep and rest?"

"No." Toero shook his head, the genin looking at him with surprise. "The less we spend in the village the better. Can you tell us how to find out targets?"

"No, afraid not."

"Then it is time for us to leave." Toero stood up and walked out of the house followed by genin.

"So, what is the plan? I can't wait to pummel these guys." Naruto cracked his knuckles.

"If they act as a group that means they have some form of organization." Toero spoke looking up. The sky was getting darker, it would rain by evening.

"Also most likely some sort of a base, or a place of gathering." Sasuke confirmed.

….

"Have any news, Jiraiya?" Hiruzen didn't turn his head when Jiraiya appeared in the window of his office. Strangely, with age some ninjas lost the habit of using doors and Jiraiya was one of the best examples.

"Well, I got some very nice research done, maybe my book will come out a bit early. You know this village has so much material for inspiration."

"Yes, indeed." A smile appeared in the old hokage's face, but he quickly made it disappear. "Ahem, what about more important news?"

"This is important and you still deny me the use of that crystal ball of yours."

"That is for special purposes only, not for your ….. research." Hiruzen shifted in his seat.

"Right, so you say."

"Yes, so I say. Maybe that is the reason I didn't choose you for the job."

"Pfft, sitting in this stuffy office of yours, no thank you. The toad mountain sage needs his freedom!"

"Jiraiya, please."

"Fine, you got pretty boring with age. Anyway, some of my informants found some traces of her, but she is always on the move, it will take time to get a more exact location. Basically right now I am merely trying to track down her debts and it would be easier if there wasn't so many. She is still the worst gambler ever."

"She might stop gambling, when you stop being a pervert." Hiruzen remarked.

"Right, when Orochimaru stops obsessing with jutsu and will find his softer side." Jiraiya parried.

"I don't want to know what his softer side would mean, Jiraiya. Hmm, I guess it is time to have lunch."

"You are just trying to find a reason to get out of this office."

"Jiraiya, stop accusing me of things you know are true. One genin told me of a very good ramen stand and not too far. I could go for something that would fill my stomach. Care to join?"

"Ramen? Nah, not my type of food."

"There could be a nice looking waitress there."

"Ramen, awesome, my favorite." Jiraiya grinned and quite soon both the student and the teacher were sitting at the Ichiraku's ramen stand.

"Some waitress, sensei." Jiraiya sulked. Old man Ichiraku killed any inspiration he had, while Hiruzen tried not to laugh.

"Oh, you must mean Ayame, she needed a day off."

Jiraiya sulked even more, but didn't oppose to the hot bowl of ramen that was placed in front of him.

"Don't worry, Jiraiya, besides, the ramen is good." Hiruzen spoke. The chef grinned proudly, not every day the hokage ate at his ramen stand.

"You can forget about a signed copy of my next book." Jiraiya frowned. Ramen so didn't match up to a pretty lady in his opinion.

….

"Sake has arrived boys!"

Cheers erupted as over a dozen young men grabbed a bottle of sake that was just brought in. They were at an old abandoned sawmill deeper in the woods. Most of the villagers didn't even remember about this place, so it was perfect.

"Too bad it is raining, hate getting wet." One of the young men said.

"Yeah, otherwise we could go have some fun."

"Sure thing. I still remember the fun we had with that whore. She thought she was so great, like some princess. Bet she doesn't think that way now, eh?"

The was another cheer among the gathered.

"So, how you like the life of free mercenaries? This all is just child's play, really." This time spoke the only man that wasn't drinking and he seemed older than those gathered, as were two other men sitting nearby.

"Awesome. Would hate to live my whole life in this god forgotten dump."

"You tell them, Eo." The young men cheered again.

"Then we have an agreement?" the older man asked.

"You bet, I can get used to this and …. what?" there was a knock on the door and the room went quiet almost instantly. Clearly they were not expecting guests, especially not in this weather.

"You weren't followed, were you?" the older man asked the one who brought sake.

"Pft, of course not. Besides, who would think of following me in this weather, really?"

"Check it out." The older man ordered and placed his hand on the hilt of his sheathed katana sword. He was one of the few people armed with a real weapon. The young man he ordered, the one called Eo shrugged and approached the door, opening it.

"Sorry, I got lost and it is raining, could you help me?" an innocent voice came.

"Boss, looks like we are still lucky." Eo stepped to the side and the crowd parted. The man with the katana saw a young girl with strange pink hair that was currently soaked from the rain.

"Get her over here." He ordered, but when Eo reached out for the girl she with a quick move grabbed his wrist and twisted it, forcing the arm behind his back and placing a kunai at his throat.

"Damn, she is a ninja!" the man unsheathed his sword.

"So you are leading these punks. Good to know." Sakura growled.

"Please, make let go of me." Eo pleaded.

"She is not your only problem." A figure appeared crouched down in the window, also armed with a kunai. His face was partially hidden by shadows, but his eyes were clearly visible. Suddenly they changed, becoming red with two black tomoes around each pupil.

"Surrender and you will not be harmed, for now." Sasuke said.

"You think you we are afraid of two brats playing ninja? You've got another thing coming."

"Now, Sasuke!" Sakura kicked her prisoner in the back, sending him crashing into the crowd and then tossed something to the ground. Sasuke also threw something and both genin disappeared as the room got filled with smoke.

"It burtns, can't see!"

"Breath, I can't … breath!"

"What is this shit?!"

"Outside, get outside!" Came a barking order between the coughs. The first man to run out was immediately grabbed and thrown against a wall. Sakura stared for a moment, she didn't even know she could throw someone much larger than her like that. She used a move Toero drilled into them on pure instinct, using her whole body as a lever and the results were clear.

Sasuke guarded the window and not surprisingly some decided to use it as an escape route. Their movements seemed sluggish to the Uchiha, who went to knock them out with a couple of well aimed kicks. One tried punching him, but Sasuke leaned to the side, the fist moving past his face and ten grabbed the wrist. A moment later Sasuke pressed his own hand against the elbow and pulled. Not enough to actually break, but to dislocate the arm.

"Bastards!" one of the young men lashed out with a punch at the nearest unfamiliar figure, but his punch was caught, while his opponent dived under the stretched hand and the threw the young man over his head, allowing him to land into the soft mud. Toero then spun around, his kick meeting with the chin of another foe. It was enough to knock out the unfortunate man almost instantly, along with a couple of his teeth.

"Run, run!" the rain washed off the effects of the toxic smoke bombs very quickly and the ninjas watched their foes run towards the woods, tripping and falling into the mud on the way. The only one who didn't run was the swordsman. He already knew that he was identified as the leader of the group and thus there was no chance the ninjas would let him go. Judging by his stance and the way he held his sword he was a trained fighter and some degree of caution was needed.

The swordsman didn't say anything as he dashed to the side towards Sakura. His blade slashed through the air, but never reached flesh. Another slash, another miss. The girl turned back and suddenly ran up the wall of the sawmill. The man tried slashing her as she flipped over him, but as he was about pull his sword up a white arrow flew through the air and pinned his wrist to the wall.

"Agghh." The man screamed in pain. Immediately Sasuke appeared on the wall, ripping the weapon out of swordsman's hand.

"Don't move." Sasuke glared and ripped the scabbard from the man's belt.

"Tie up those that are here, I will handle him." Toero walked up placing the bow on his back. Sasuke glared at the swordsman, but deactivated his sharingan and nodded after sheathing the sword. Just then figures began appearing from the woods and the captured swordsman with shock realized that those were identical copies of an unfamiliar blonde ninja. The copies all dragged the heavily bruised bodies of those who tried to escape. It seemed that he didn't hold back really. The clones dumped them all without any ceremonies and disappeared until only the original was left.

"You got them all, dope?"

"Yeah, yeah. I surrounded the area, just as planned. I think a couple broke their wrists, but who cares."

"Naruto, mind helping with this?" Sakura rolled over one of the unconscious men to tie up his hands with ninja wire.

"Sure thing, Sakura-chan!"

"Agghh!" the genin looked to the side where Toero grabbed and twisted the arrow that was pinning the swordsman to the wall. The process looked and clearly was painful.

"You have two choices. You either talk, or you suffer."

"I …. I'll talk." The man said in a defeated tone. He knew that tone, when someone was not bluffing. The young archer in front of him would not hesitate to go down with his threat.

"Good." Toero pulled out the arrow earning another pained scream from the man.

"Haruno, make sure he doesn't bleed to death."

"Alright." The girl nodded. Surprisingly, she didn't feel sorry for the man. She understood perfectly well what would've happened to her if she really was a simple civilian girl who lost her way in the rain. She roughly bandaged up the wound and then tied the man up. He didn't object, he was already broken.

"Uchiha, search the place for anything of interest. After that all of you, prepare to lead or drag the prisoners back to the village."


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

It was a sad picture when the captured men were paraded into the village if you could call it that. The bound men were a pathetic picture, all bruised, some limping forward, escorted by four shinobi, whose presence ruled out any chances of escape. They were all tied by metal ninja wire, a very uncomfortable and painful thing that often dug into the skin or even caused mild cuts, breaking the skin.

It was early in the morning and the villagers poured out of their houses to look at the scene. It was weird, since it was mostly silence that greeted the prisoners, who walked with their heads lowered, unable to look in the eyes of people around.

"Eo!" A woman pushed through the crowd and ran towards one of the young tied up men, but was intercepted by one of the ninjas, the one with a bow on his back.

"Stay away from the prisoners."

"That is my son! What are you going to do to him?" the woman didn't cower under the gaze of the shinobi. For him it would be incredibly easy to get rid of her, but he merely shook his head and kept on walking.

"Ahem, we agreed with Elder Kishi that the fate of those from the village will be decided by the villagers themselves. His fate is out of our hands." The woman turned to a young pink haired girl, who explained the situation. Her words were actually addressed to most of those around and some of the prisoners finally raised their heads. The eyes of the villagers didn't promise anything good, but at the same time they didn't promise death either. The woman nodded after a moment, moving back into the crowd, not taking her eyes off the figure of her son, who for a moment looked back at her with fear in his eyes.

The prisoners were taken to the village square, where Kishi was already waiting with several of the most respected members of the village. Without any ceremonies the prisoners were forced to get down on their knees.

"Can you identify those from your village?" Toero approached Kishi. The elder nodded and walked towards the row of the prisoners. He began pointing out those he knew, though sometimes the bruised faces were hard to recognize. Still soon enough the prisoners were split into two groups.

"Very well. You can do whatever you wish with those you picked. The remaining three, are our responsibility." Toero turned to the wounded swordsman and the two men who Kishi didn't recognize.

"Yes, as agreed." Kishi nodded. "Thank you for completing the mission. You can stay in my house to rest after your hard work while we settle the issue of your payment."

"Agreed. Haruno, stay here and settle that matter of payment. We will rest for a few hours and then leave. Uchiha, Uzumaki you are going with me." Toero ordered and roughly pulled up the swordsman, dragging him away. Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other, shrugged and followed his lead, dragging the two other prisoners away. The villagers in the mean time led away the captured young men. It was decided to keep them in one of the bigger barns, under guard, while Kishi and several others decided on their punishment. The women were allowed to treat their wounds though, but never untie them.

"Start talking." Toero threw the swordsman against a tree once they were out of the village. The man grunted in pain and looked up at his captors.

"Will …. Will you let me live?" he asked nursing his wounded hand.

"Who are you and what is your purpose of being here." Toero asked again, never bothering with the swordsman's question. The idea was clear, as long as you talk you live.

"I was sent here ….. to recruit. I wanted to show those villagers the life of a mercenary."

"Who sent you, for what purpose?"

"Kinhuo-san sent me. He is gathering forces. Needs men."

"Who is he, why does he need men?" Toero asked again. The swordsman seemed to hesitate, but Toero grabbed and squeezed his injured hand, making the man scream. Naruto and Sasuke watched the scene, while guarding the remaining two prisoners. Naruto didn't seem comfortable with it, but Sasuke on other hand looked emotionless, while holding the sword he got earlier.

"An uprising. He plans to occupy part of the land of fire. The hidden leaf village is weak, it will not be albe to help the daimyo. He wants to use the chance."

"Who is he?"

"I don't know, seems to hold the grudge, but I know nothing more."

"These two?" Toero nodded towards the two other prisoners.

"They were given me for help. I barely know them, just mercenaries."

"Where can this Kinhuo be found?"

"I don't know, in one of the camps, but I know only of one. On the edge of the Buigah forest, just east of the river, closer to the hills."

"When are you supposed to get back."

"In two weeks, or else I would lose my payment."

Toero leaned closer to the man looking into his eyes. He studied him for a second or two, but then pulled back satisfied by what he saw.

"I promised that if you talked, you would not suffer." Toero said and with a quick move broke the man's neck, ending his life without any pain. He then turned to Sasuke and Naruto.

"We don't need these two, they know nothing. Dispose of them."

"What, you mean kill them?" Naruto shook his head looking at the already dead body behind Toero.

"We have no choice, dobe. We let them leave, they will warn that Kinhuo." Sasuke sighed.

"Please, we won't tell. We don't even know much. Please." The prisoners began to plead, but the ninjas didn't seem to notice them.

"The shinobi must learn to handle death. That is the part of our profession, there is no innocence in it. You will walk this land with your hands marred with blood. You must only make sure that the blood is not unnecessary."

"And this is necessary?" Naruto asked pointing at the prisoners.

"Considering the situation, yes. Carry out the order."

"Listen dobe, I don't like it either, but think. If there will be an uprising, there will be much more deaths. Towns will be sacked, people butchered. Just imagine what will happen if people like these will get a chance to do whatever they want. Choose, you either take the life of scum, or you will be responsible for many innocent lives, just because you didn't have the guts to do what is necessary. You know, I think allowing that to happen only to clear your own conscience will also make you lower than trash."

"I don't like that this is necessary." Naruto looked away.

"Uzumaki." Toero narrowed his eyes. "Do you know why the ninjas exist? We sacrifice our own innocents, so that the others won't have to. If you fail to do what you must, you fail your purpose as a shinobi. Carry out my order."

Naruto looked at the captured mercenaries, who were looking desperately for a way out. There was none.

…..

"Ahhh, that is good." Sasuka sighed. She had a chance to change into dry clothes since after spending half the night under the rain left her soaked and cold. She didn't dare to object, knowing full well, that Toero would throw that back into her face for being unable to cope with the harsh conditions. Being a shinobi she had no right to complain. But it never meant that she couldn't enjoy a nice warm cup of tea provided by Kishi's wife. The woman really didn't look pleased about a young girl walking around soaked, it was sort of a motherly instinct to take care of the young.

"Ahh, you are back. I gave your genin the money as agreed." Kishi's voice came as he entered the room followed by Toero, Naruto and Sasuke.

"Yep. I counted, all as agreed." Sakura smiled. She was in a rather good mood.

"Good. Haruno, we will leave early. New information came up. It is best we get back to the village as fast as we can."

"Huh? Oh, alright." Sakura stood up and grabbed her backpack. "I am ready to go."

"Lets move then. We wish you and your village to prosper, elder Kishi." Toero said and walked out. His voice didn't' hold much emotion as if he actually meant what he said. Most likely he was just polite to the client.

"Hey, where are those three that are not from the village?" Sakura asked, but nobody answered at first.

"They are of no concern any longer." Toero spoke and jumped up into the trees. Sakura looked at Sasuke and Naruto, but clearly both didn't want to talk about it. She had an uneasy feeling and then realized what happened. She felt a bit sick, but couldn't ponder over her feelings as she was forced to follow her teammates. Once more there would be no waiting for those who fell back.

They traveled in silence. People generally didn't like talking about such things. It was one of those burdens one preferred to carry alone and share only when it became unbearable. Sasuke grew up with the though of ending a life of a certain individual, it was easier for him to accept such obligations. For Naruto it was harder, he valued lives of others. But when it came to protecting others, he could go to great lengths and he couldn't deny the truth of Sasuke's words. Both boys wondered only about one thing. Why did Toero not take Sakura along for the execution?

….

Hiruzen frowned. He didn't expect another C-rank mission to turn out to be more than it seemed at a first glance. It appeared that team 7 simply had luck of running into such missions, but at least this time it wasn't some powerful rogue ninja. It just so happened that the genin team stumbled across a plot against the daimyo. It anything this was luck, but one had to act quickly and efficiently to make the best use of it.

"Very good. Team seven, you have successfully completed the mission and even more. I think I can add a bonus for the information you uncovered as I find it to be of outmost importance. I now suggest you rest, get your thoughts into order. It appears this mission was emotionally straining for you." Hiruzen wasn't used to seeing Naruto gloomy, but he knew that the jailor of the nine tailed fox had amazing strength of spirit and would get through this part of his shinobi career. It was good when the shinobi was introduced to the harsh reality of his profession early on. The ninjas had no right to be soft, their hand must never tremble before delivering a final blow. Killing an enemy in combat, or executing a captured criminal, it didn't matter. Few were more familiar with death than the shinobi.

"I think I'll go get some ramen." Naruto said once they left the hokage tower. He didn't seek his favorite food right now. It is just the old ramen chef and his daughter were people he was always very comfortable around and he needed comfort right now. Others seemed to understand it. Sakura decided to go home but Sasuke had other plans.

"You plan on keeping that?" Teoro pointed at the sheathed katana sword Sasuke was holding.

"Seems like a fine weapon. Would be a shame to waste it."

"Hmm. Such a weapon will suit your style of fighting, but only with adequate training. I can not provide you with such knowledge, swordplay is not a field I am skilled at."

"Tsk. I'll figure something out."

"That is not an answer of a shinobi." Toero shook his head. "I approve of this choice. You will require an instructor. I know of only one swordsman in this village. Gekko Hayate. I do not know where he is, or how to locate him or if he will provide you with any form of assistance." Toero spoke in his usual sharp manner.

"Hayate? He was a proctor during the preliminaries and the exam finals." Sasuke realized, remembering the sick looking jounin.

"Correct. From what I saw his skill with the blade is formidable and he knows several sword based techniques that will work well with your fast attack style. Remember, Uchiha, should you decide to train in using a sword, you should make sure that your training will not interfere with your duties as I will not accept that. Still, I might grant you more time to seek this type of training as it will have obvious uses."

Sasuke nodded and was about to walk away, but then turned to the archer.

"Toero-san. I want to ask a question."

"I will answer unless it is a pointless waste of my time."

"When you kill someone, does the guilt go away?"

"No." Toero said quickly. "Like everything you do, it leaves an imprint on your soul. But I believe that it is not our actions that say who we are, but our motives. You killed and you will kill again, there is no helping it. You will not be able to change that fact. But your reasons for doing it, that is something you can choose. Think about your reasons, Uchiha. Are they good enough, are they worth your life, your soul? If not, your whole existence is worthless. Surprisingly your blonde teammate knows it and accepts it. That is why he never asked me this question."

"What about Sakura?"

"I am willing to break her illusions, not her spirit. She is not ready to feel this pain for she will not be able to endure it. I supervise your team. I need you to remain functional and effective. I will achive nothing by breaking her." Toero turned around and walked off, quickly disappearing from view.

"Hn." Sasuke tilted his head in thought. That was true though. Naruto knew pain no doubt. He was used to it and was willing to accept more if that meant doing the right thing. Guilt was pain, pain was a reminder. One had to learn to live with it and use it, otherwise he would loose himself. Naruto would never lose himself in his pain, he was too strong and too stubborn for that. But Sasuke was different. For a long time he drifted in the depths of his own sorrow. But now, for the first time in a long time, he began to see the light.

Sasuke walked off to look for Hayate. He knew that by now Naruto was most likely already laughing and chatting with the owners of his favorite ramen stand. He didn't know that Naruto also ran into Iruka when he got there. The number one knucklehead ninja was soon the same smiling person he always was and those around him knew when his smile was a real one or a fake one, so he didn't bother faking it. They were the first to accept him, the first people who were his proof that he was necessary. You lived if there were those who would miss you.

…

Orochimaru hated when his body was failing him. His old sensei really did an enormous amount of damage and for a while Kabuto was busy with just making sure that the snake sannin survived. Without a doubt if Kabuto didn't switch Orochimaru's body for a fake one, Jiraiya's rasengan would've killed the greatly weakened sannin. But the wound left by the spear was still severe. It missed the heart, but the serious blood loss along with the nearly ripped up lung and damaged kidney was enough for Kabuto to have his hands full, but he wasn't a medical specialist for nothing and he also had enough materials for a transplant.

"You've cut it pretty close this time, Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto smirked preparing medicine for his injured master.

"If it wasn't for that failure of an experiment the plan would've succeeded. You failed to stop him Kabuto."

"I already said that Toero predicted that someone would interfere and took precautions. I have many skills, but I am afraid that being in two places at the same time is beyond me for now."

"You always find some smart answer, Kabuto. Sometimes it is such a shame that you are so useful."

"My usefulness is what allows me to stay alive, after all you do despise useless things, Orochimaru-sama."

"Tsk." Orochimaru frowned. "How badly was this shell damaged?"

"Badly. The damage is repairable, but without a doubt it shortened the time it will remain useable for you. You must think of another body soon." Kabuto said matter of factly.

"I already chose the body."

"Unfortunately Sasuke-kun is out of our reach for now. Your former sensei is perhaps a kind hearted old man, but he is no fool. There is no doubt that he realized what your plans are and has taken measures to prevent you from obtaining the sharingan."

"Hmm. You have a valid point Kabuto." Orochimaru admitted. "I don't want to admit defeat in this battle just yet though. But just in case we must prepare another variant."

"I can choose a healthy candidate …. "

"No, I will not use some plain unremarkable body, Kabuto. I would prefer to fix the one I already have at my disposal."

"Kimimaro is beyond our skills, Orochimaru-sama. It takes much effort to just keep him alive and without the support system he will die in a matter of hours and we simply don't have time to attempt recreating his bloodline in another body."

"He is beyond my or your skills, that is true Kabuto. Also don't think that I am that stupid or stubborn to take the path that has already failed me once. No, there is another, third option, but I never thought I would have to seek her to help me out."

"Ahh, I see. All these old faces, you are growing sentimental Orochimaru-sama?"

"Careful Kabuto." The snake sannin hissed, but the spy merely smirked, but said nothing deciding not to test his luck.

"Still, what makes you think that she will agree to help us? I don't think she will give you a hand just because you were once teammates."

"Oh no, no, I don't plan to beg. I think we will try and make a deal. I know what she desires the most and I can give it to her, even in a way she doesn't comprehend."

"That is cruel, Orochimaru-sama. Shall I make preparations?"

"Not now. How long until I will be able to move?"

"A couple of weeks. I am doing what I can, but damage of this level is not easy to repair. In the mean time I will try and locate her." Kabuto said and held up the vile of some strange purple liquid. He checked it by placing in front of the source of the light and smiled. He liked when thing were going smoothly.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

It was strange that finding a particular ninja in a ninja village was a tough task. Perhaps the size of Konoha was to blame with it's massive for the ninja villages population. In every sense of the word Konoha was hardly a village, it was pretty big city, but ninjas were very conservative at time. They preferred to keep the old names, even if those names often no longer reflected the reality. That was just how things worked.

Sasuke spent quite some time looking for the ninja who could show him how to use the sword correctly, but all in vain. He asked around, checked some of the training grounds, checked some shops, but that was like looking for a needle in haystack.

"I heard …. cough ….. you were looking for me." Sasuke had just sad down on the edge of a roof to rest and think over his next move when he heard the familiar voice. Hayate was like before, the same sickly look, the same cough. Sasuke had an eye for details and note that the hilt of the blade on Hayate's back was different, but that was the only new thing.

"During a mission I captured a trophy. Thought I'd learn to use it." Sasuke threw Hayate the katana he took from the now dead mercenary swordsman. Hayate caught it easily and unsheathed it. It was a very plain looking blade, no decoration, no markings, it had nothing special about how it looked.

"A good weapon." Hayate nodded and coughed into his fist. "Perfectly balanced, durable. It was … cough … well taken care of. It is a standard style katana, good …. cough …. for learning the basics and deadly in the hands of a master." Hayate sheathed the blade and threw it back to Sasuke, slightly wincing from discomfort. His hands were still weak after he got both of them broken. He had to train to regain the strength and speed.

"Toero said you are a strong swordsman and I need a teacher."

"Toero? I heard …. cough …. he was supervising a genin team. He is a dangerous one." Hayate sighed. He remembered that no matter what he owed the archer his life, otherwise Baki would've killed him that night.

"Tsk, tell me about it. So, what about training, Hayate-san?"

"You might be in luck, Uchiha Sasuke. Usually I …. cough …. don't instruct others, but I got injured during the invasion." Hayate coughed a couple of times and Sasuke wondered if Hayate was actually seriously sick. He originally thought it was some sort of a trick to make others underestimate them, but he could be wrong.

"I am currently recuperating, thus I am not sent on ….. cough ….. long term missions, stuck on guard duty. I think I can show you the basics, but I will …. cough … not teach you anything advanced until I talk with Kakashi."

"Where and when then?" Sasuke asked.

"Tomorrow I will be stationed not far from the …. cough ….. academy building. Find me." Hayate said and disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving Sasuke alone. The young Uchiha nodded to himself and went home. He doubted Hayate would be a merciless torturer like Toero, but wanted to be fully rested for training. Unlike Naruto Sasuke didn't have nearly unlimited energy to just keep going as if he was some force of nature.

…..

The new team 7 brought was troubling, but in the end the old hokage wasn't concerned very much. If there was an uprising being planned against the daimyo that didn't concern the ninjas much. Hiruzen of course sent a message informing the feudal lord about the information gathered and the situation. Hopefully the daimyo would be able to handle the matter without involving the shinobi directly. Right now Konoha simply could not spare high level shinobi on the things of little significance for the village. The daimyo himself would probably prefer to not ask for help, for political reasons. After all a feudal lord incapable of crushing some uprising without the aid of the ninjas would seem weak. Either way that was not an urgent matter and the old kage decided to leave his office and rest for the night.

"Oh." Hiruzen leaned to pick up his pipe he accidentally dropped as he walked out. To his surprise some flew over him and crashed against the wall with a pained moan.

"Konohamaru, again?" Hiruzen rolled his eyes. "I thought you were over this ambushes."

"Ow, ow, ow." Konohamaru pulled himself up. "Again you saw through my attack. Damn you are good." The young boy pouted.

"Of course, I am the hokage after all." Hiruzen looked away for a moment. He just couldn't admit that for once he avoid Konohamaru just because he was lucky. He was just so deep in his own thoughts, that he wasn't very aware of his surroundings.

"I'll beat you yet."

"Konohamaru, you that you will not become Hokage just by beating me."

"Yeah, the boss explained about that. There are no shortcuts to becoming hokage, but you are still good training."

"Can't you pick a different target. Someone more of your league and closer to your own age?"

"I won't settle for anyone but the best!" Konohamaru declared.

"What about Naruto. Aren't you two rivals? You should test your skills against your rival, to see if you have not fallen behind."

"Hey, you are right. Thanks grandpa! I'll go plan my surprise attack against my rival." Konohamaru ran away with a laugh and Hiruzen sighed in relief. He successfully managed to redirect Konohamaru's energy towards someone who could match it with his own.

"Hmm, perhaps I shouldn't have dumped Konohamaru on Naruto this way." Hiruzen wondered lighting his pipe a releasing a stream of white smoke. It wasn't exactly very nice of him, but Konohamaru was sometimes driving him nuts. He hoped that Naruto's influence would make Konohamaru take his training under Ebisu more seriously and it did, but Konohamaru also found a different reason to try and ambush him.

"Nah, he'll handle it." Hiruzen smirked. The old kage needed his rest. Tomorrow the sand village representatives were to arrive and he had to negotiate. Luckily he could talk from a position of strength.

…..

Toero had one major advantage when compared to Kakashi. He was punctual. The genin actually had to get used to this, but it was sure better than waiting for two or three hours for Kakashi and then hear out his lame excuse. As far as excuses went, Toero had little to no tolerance for them. The genin learned to be prepared every morning, they knew he would not allow them to go home if they forgot something. Thus it was a bit of a surprise that Sasuke was late.

Toero appeared right on time, as usual the two genin already waiting at the usual spot on the bridge.

"Your teammate has other matters to settle, we have no need to wait for him." Toero spoke.

"Is Sasuke-kun alright?" Sakura asked, hoping that toero would actually provide any kind of information.

"He sought out a teacher to learn swordsmanship. I approved and gave him time to seek that training."

"Why is the teme getting special training and the sword."

"Stop calling Sasuke-kun that, already." Sakura frowned.

"Oh, so when I am the dobe it is alright, but when he is called a teme, which he is, that is wrong. How come?"

Sakura was about to answer, but toero raised his hand stopping the argument. He then turned to Naruto.

"Your style is not suitable for the use of a sword. It is a weapon of an individual fighter preferring mid to short range combat. Your choice of weapons should work with your style, preferable not interfering with your use of clones. If you wish you can research the matter."

"Tsk, still not fair."

"Uzumaki, what ever gave the idea that I care about your opinion on the matter? Come, we have work to do."

"I got you now!" Konohamaru was hiding under the bridge until he climbed out and jumped at Naruto who instinctively went down in a crouching position. Konohamaru would've hit the railing if it wasn't for a hand that snatched him out of the air.

"Explain this interference." Toero turned to Naruto while holding Konohamaru by the collar of his shirt like some toy or stray cat.

"Hey, let go of me, you ruined my ambush." Konohamaru yelled, but he had better chances of some tree paying attention to him instead of Toero.

"Konohamaru, what gives, I am busy with my ninja stuff." Naruto frowned.

"Well you are my rival, I need to test myself against you."

"That is the grandson of the hokage." Sakura explained when Toero turned to her figuring she was a better way to get information.

"Yes I am. Not let me go, I need to test my skills against the boss. Who the hell are you?"

"That is none of your concern." Toero moved his hand and Konohamaru found himself hanging over the river below. It wasn't a long fall and the water wasn't deep, but he didn't fancy a morning swim in his clothes.

"Maybe later Konohamaru, after I am done."

"Agreed boss." Konohamaru grinned and turned to Toero. "Could you, you know, let go of me?"

"Oh no." Sakura rubbed her forehead looking down. She heard a loud scream and a splash of water. The little brat just had to ask for that. It seemed that whenever Konohamaru was around he tended to pick fights with ninjas. First he irritated her, then managed to earn the ire of a sand puppet master.

"What gives you ass?! I am all wet now!" Konohamaru yelled as Toero began to lead the two remaining members of team 7 away. "I'll get you!" Konohamaru actually pulled out a shuriken and threw it at Toero.

"Whaaah!" Sakura found herself in peculiar position. With one hand Toero pulled her into the way of the shuriken that would've hit her in the face. But luckily Toero stopped the weapon just as it was inches away from hitting her. Konohamaru just stood there with wide eyes. He nearly killed one of Naruto's teammates. Well, perhaps killed was taking it a tad too far, but a shuriken to the face didn't sound pleasant.

"When an attack is reckless, guided only by passions and emotions, it has very poor aim. It can hit anyone, including those who you do not want to hurt. Do not attack without knowing your enemy, do not voice your intentions without need. Your every moves, are merely your thoughts given physical shapes. If your attack was flawed in your mind, it will also be flawed in reality. As such you must always think before acting, consider your options and take the best route to success. Otherwise you will cause damage to anyone but your enemy who will not hesitate to exploit such weaknesses."

Toero let Sakura go and the girl took a careful step away from the archer, who suddenly flicked his fingers and sent shuriken forward. Konohamaru didn't react, but saw how the end of his blue scarf glided down to the ground. The shuriken passed just next to his own head.

"I am not sure I approve of your methods, but the statement was quite correct." Ebisu spoke coming from behind Konohamaru holding the shuriken. "Konohamaru-kun, I told you not to seek fights with senior ninjas."

"Erm ….. right." Konohamaru nodded dumbly still shaken after the event.

"Oh, hey, it is the closet pervert. Haven't seen you in a while." Naruto waved to Ebisu.

"How disrespectful." Ebisu pushed his glasses. "Naruto-san, please stop calling me that in front of my student." Ebisu was irritated by Naruto's nickname, but he had a certain degree of respect for the blonde ninja. Naruto demonstrated true loyalty and a good amount of skill and Ebisu was more than capable of admitting his mistakes. Besides, Naruto taught Konohamaru things he never could.

"He won't. He calls master Jiraiya pervy sage. But since that is somewhat justified, stay where you are." Sakura said in a low creepy voice. Having nearly getting used as a human shield didn't do anything to put her into high spirits. She was now also looking at Ebisu with clear suspicion.

"That is most insulting to think that I would … that am ….. " Ebisu couldn't even find the words suitable for the situation. Not only did Naruto nickname him like some pervert, he also did a fine job spreading the word.

"Nice comeback, sensei." Konohamaru smirked.

"I would prefer not to waste any more time." Toero turned around and began to walk off once more, followed by Naruto and Sakura. Both were thinking about what happened and so did Konohamaru.

"Hey, sensei. So what that guy said, it is true?"

"Yes. You should be grateful. Perhaps it was a harsh and an unorthodox lesson, it was a good one. Now come, we should continue your training if you wish to continue down the path towards the title of the hokage."

"You bet I am. I'll train and learn all of the important stuff like I learned today. It is hard, but I will do it, because ….. " Konohamaru began to think, of a way to voice his feeling.

"Because otherwise you won't become hokage?" Ebisu suggested.

"No, because otherwise I won't be able to look the boss in the face."

Ebisu tilted his head at the declaration. Naruto was obviously a positive influence, he was a source of Konohamaru's determination.

"Very well. Perhaps today I will teach you some ways to properly use these." Ebisu held up the shuriken.

"Awesome." Konohamaru grinned. "I just need to get my spare scarf, this one is no good."

"Ughh." Ebisu rubbed his face. His student ruined the moment so easily, so effortlessly it was sad. It was a moment of master student bonding, when a master would share his wisdom and knowledge and then Konohamaru went about his ridiculously long scarf.

"Oh scratch that, I am soaking wet. Bet go change. That guy just had to throw me down in the water." Konohamaru ranted. Ebisu blinked but then shook his head. Ninjas often had very little patience with things they considered annoying. The reason was simple. The life of a shinobi was filled with stress, ninjas basically spent a good part of their life balancing on the edge of a blade. When they had moments of relative peace they didn't want that peace to be ruined by obnoxious brats.

…..

The sand village ambassadors didn't object to the treatment they received in the hidden leaf. They weren't insulted openly or harmed, after all harming a diplomat was generally frowned upon. But they were not surprised that once they crossed the border they were escorted by a team of high level Konoha jounin, some of those present having a worldwide reputation.

Hatake Kakashi was one of them, a man that was rumored to have copied over a thousand jutsu using a sharingan eye, yet the origins of the said eye for most were a mystery. Yet he was feared. Most preferred not to cross his path, for many have died trying. He was ninja many have heard of and then again few things could be told about him. Uncovering his past could be just as hard as uncovering his face.

Along with him were other Konoha shinobi who had a reputation of dangerous foes. Sarutobi Asuma, Yuhi Kurenai, Maito Gai were among those present. If the sand ambassadors had something planed they would never dare try it with such people keeping an eye on them.

Once they reached the village the ambassadors were stripped of their weapons and other ninja gear. Their belongings were searched through, a measure more than justified during the war. They were then led to the hokage tower which had room the ambassadors could reside in, while being under constant surveillance. Once done ANBU took charge of providing security while the jounin were dismissed after a short report to the hokage. The negotiations would not start until tomorrow and Hiruzen needed time to prepare. Even though the sand suffered a crushing defeat, they without a doubt knew that the leaf wanted and needed peace and would try and exploit that. The third hokage on the other hand had to make sure to reach an agreement that would benefit the village, but would not make it loose face. Politics was a delicate business. Negotiations could look peaceful sometimes pleasant even, but their importance was evident. Being a hokage did not only mean being a powerful and respected ninja, it also meant that the person had to understand politics for very often he had to defend the village not at the field of battle, but from behind the negotiations table.

Luckily Kakashi never had to think about these matters. He was a ninja, a very good ninja, but politics never interested him. He knew enough to understand the events, but never had any desire to get involved. Right now he was more interested in find his genin and catching up with them. He was to be present during the negotiations and thus would remain in the village at least for a few days.

"Ow."

"Repeat."

Kakashi decided to observe for a while. He saw that Toero seemed to be instructing Sakura. He repeated the same set of attacks, clearly holding back, but still being serious enough to knock Sakura down, sometimes painfully. She was struggling to counter him with the techniques he showed. One involved grabbing the fist, twisting it and then delivering a strike aimed to break the fingers. Broken fingers no seals, no seals, no jutsu, it was that simple. Another move involved allowing a strike to pass, then grabbing the wrist and tripping the opponent using his own momentum against him. Then there was a variant of blocking, moving to the side sliding into the opponent's guard and lashing out with a kick to the gut.

All of these were basically variants of handling similar scenarios. They weren't parts of some elaborate styles, or high risk techniques. These were actually complex versions of basic grabs, throws and punches, but used to quickly and efficiently take out the opponent. Kakashi himself frowned slightly at the evident brutality of those techniques. Some if executed correctly could result in horrible breaks, bruised inner organs and of course death. Toero was not teaching how to fight, but how to neutralize and opponent.

Learning was a very unpleasant experience for Sakura. She now could handle the physical strain, to a degree, but Toero was not gentle. Every few minutes she had to pull herself up after getting a taste of dirt under her feet. He taught her and threw her mistakes into her face by exploiting them. He wasn't just explaining the mistakes, he was showing the results of those mistakes. He made her feel them, understand not just with mind, but with the body.

"Argghh!"

Kakashi looked down when he heard a frustrated growl and the strangest picture ever. Naruto was sitting under a tree. His orange jumpsuit, his face and even his hair were covered in ink. The blonde ninja was forced to do something he had clear trouble with. To make him more patient and teach precision Toero forced Naruto to practice calligraphy. So far the result was a large pile of crumpled up parchment, two empty bottles of ink and seven broken brushes. Kakashi shrugged and wondered which one of his students right now felt more miserable.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Naturally the negotiations between the hidden leaf and sand villages would not take place in the hokage's office. For events of such importance there was a specially constructed room on the first floor of the hokage tower. Not only it was big enough to easily fit numerous delegates, but also was constructed to provide unmatched security. Of course at first glance it seemed that there were only several jounin present, stationed along the walls, but those were only the tip of the iceberg. In reality there were secret panels, rooms, hatches that would allow ANBU operatives to enter almost instantly from the most unexpected places. Some would consider such security measures as a sign of paranoia, but when dealing with shinobi paranoia was not that far from common sense.

As for ANBU, they were widely considered a mystery. Their purpose and their actions in many cases were a closely guarded secret, just as were their identities. When it came purepy to their combat skills, they were no better than standard jounin, they were picked for different reasons. ANBU had unquestionable loyalty. They carried out the orders of their hokage without any complaints. They would easily without a second through sacrifice their lives in order to fulfill their duty. This made them very trustworthy and thus they could be assigned to carry out missions of a more delicate nature. Mostly those missions concerned village security, plots against the hokage. The ANBU kept an eye on all the clans, all the ninja artifacts. They didn't receive any glory for their actions, as sometimes their exploits were far from glorious. In order to ensure the survival of the village and it's safety the ANBU operatives sometimes did things that were never discussed later without need. Naturally such assignments were never made public, or very carefully covered up.

Hiruzen knew about the nature of the ANBU operatives. He as the hokage knew many secrets, hoped that most of them would remains hidden even after his death. Some matters were best kept hidden, some questions must never be asked or answered. Being a leader of the village was a heavy burden, it required an ability to make tough choices, sometimes to sacrifice your own morals and sense of justice. Perhaps Hiruzen looked like a kind old man, but those who knew him knew, that he could be quite merciless when it was required. The old hokage had no tolerance for those who threatened is village, so it was not surprising that the sand village ambassadors feared for their lives.

The negotiations would took place behind a large oval table, with the third hokage sitting at one end and the sand representatives at the other. It created quite a bit of room for both parties, another security measure.

"Lord hokage. We thank you for agreeing to these negotiations. We hope that we will be able to come to an agreement."

"Indeed." Hiruzen leaned back slightly with a neutral expression. This was a very complex matter. Konoha needed peace, and more than likely that the sand representatives knew that. On the other hand the sand suffered a catastrophic military defeat, with a great deal of their shinobi still held prisoner by Konoha.

"As you know, the rogue ninja Orochimaru killed and impersonated our kazekage. This whole conflict was his doing. We of course admit that we fell for it and betrayed your trust, but the hidden sand village wishes to put that conflict behind us and work towards the restoration of our friendly relationship."

"Such matters are not that easily left behind. Betrayal is not something that is forgiven easily, on the contrary, it is usually never forgiven at all."

"Lord hokage, we understand you are … upset by the events, but Orochimaru ….."

"You do not need to stress the importance of that man. I know about his ability to influence events, that is the reason we are talking today, otherwise the idea of peace would've been laughable."

"Then you accept the peace proposal?' the sand ambassadors didn't dare to share a hopeful look.

"I always prefer peace to war for I've seen too much of it in my life."

"Then we can discuss the conditions of the peace agreement."

"Yes, we can. If we achieve peace I will naturally order all of the captured sand ninjas to be released. But what are you willing to offer Konoha?"

"To start, we would like to reestablish trade. The hidden leaf was one of our most important trade partners."

"Yes, mutually beneficial trade is a good proposal, but as I said it is mutually beneficial. I asked about what are you willing to offer Konoha?"

The ambassadors turned to each other and began to discuss something quietly. It was clear that they needed to weigh their answers carefully. A bad peace agreement could be as crippling as any invasion.

"We agree to cut the taxes on trade in half for the next five years."

"Ten." Hiruzen stated. There wasn't much room left for discussion there and the sand representatives agreed. "Also, 3% of all you mission profits will be sent to Konoha until you will cover the cost of all the damage the hidden leaf suffered."

This was a much more serious demand, but after some struggling the sand representatives agreed. The percentage the hokage demanded was reasonable, it would not cripple the sand economy, though it would take several years to cover the damage cost this way. The hokage couldn't just end the conflict with the village that betrayed Konoha. Now on the other hand it looked like the sand was punished, while at the same it didn't ruin the sand village. Both received peace at a cost that satisfied those present.

"What about reestablishing the alliance?"

"Lets start with a cooperation agreement. If there will be no conflicts in the future we will be able to upgrade it to a full alliance, but until the trust will be regained." Hiruzen offered. "We can start by working together against Orochimaru. After all we all have a score to settle with that snake."

"Yes, Lord Hokage, that would be a good way to start, taking it slow."

"Precisely." Hiruzen nodded and stood up. "My secretaries will draw up the agreement by tomorrow and will gather again to discuss details and sign it." Hiruzen spoke and walked out of the negotiations chamber. He could've asked for more, but right now was not the time to be vengeful. Orochimaru was the enemy and Hokage now could safely free up some much needed resources to work against the snake sannin. The sand would not try anything again. They would seek a chance to avenge their own kage, and make Orochimaru pay for his deception. That was the mistake Orocimaru was making again and again, he made too many enemies. It didn't matter how skilled or smart or clever you were if you had too many of those who wanted you dead.

…

"Whoah, that was so cool, Sasuke-kun." Sakura said with the dreamy expression when she saw how Sasuke went through a set of slashed with his new sword. His sharingan greatly simplified the process of learning, but when it came to swordplay knowing the and memorizing the techniques was not the same of using them masterfully.

"No, it is not, it needs much work." Sasuke frowned.

"But it looked perfect." Sakura objected. Naruto grumbled something, but just kept sitting with the arms crossed on his chest. He called Sasuke a showoff already and naturally got smacked on the head by Sakura.

"You didn't see perfect. Hayate-san said that I will have to practice my body to memorize the movements. I still have to concentrate to get them right, but I should be able to do it almost automatically."

"Ha, your eyes won't help much with that, huh, Sasuke?" Naruto grinned. No matter how talented Sasuke was, he would not escape hard work. That was just that simple, a talent was like a diamond in the rough. Much work was needed to make it show it's true potential.

"Naruto …. " Sakura turned to the blonde genin getting ready to smack him again for being rude.

"Unfortunately the dobe is correct on that one." Sasuke sheathed the sword. He now carried the weapon on his back, it was more practical for a shinobi as it didn't get in the way of anything this way.

"Hello." Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke, crouching down on the railing.

"You are late again, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said with a bored tone leaning on the railing of the bridge.

"Oh you see, I ….. slept in." Kakashi shrugged.

"Best excuse so far. You are improving sensei. Maybe one day your excuse will actually be believable." Sasuke sighed.

"Oh, I am glad."

"Hey sensei, what are you going to teach us? You promised no missions today, so it should be something special." Naruto grinned.

"Ah yes. I actually talked with Toero yesterday after he was ….. finished with you."

"Finished, good choice of words, sensei." Sakura nodded. After the training she was hurting all over, even her hair hurt and that was supposed to be impossible. When she actually made it home she nearly fell asleep in the shower, but surprisingly recovered by morning almost completely. She even felt different lately, like her body was lighter, it was easier to move, easier to keep breathing steadily when fighting.

"Anyway I wanted to catch up on the things he taught you, about your progress."

"Oh and what did he say about us?" Sasuke asked with interest evident in his voice. He wondered what opinion their secondary team leader had.

"He said …. hmmm. He think …. errr."

"Well?" Sasuke looked annoyed.

"Sorry, trying to say it in a way that won't offend you. I suppose he means that you are improving, but still have a long way to go."

"Not very detailed." Sakura frowned. "Details are for me. What is important is that he had talked with someone who is willing to teach you something, in exchange for a little help from me."

"So, you are dumping us on someone again?"

"No, I will stay right here and keep an eye on you three. As for the ninja I speak of, she needs a bit more practice with instructing others, so everybody wins."

"Tsk, who is it?" Naruto asked.

"Its me." The genin turned around and saw Tenten standing on the opposite end of the bridge.

"Hi there. Everything ready?" Kakashi asked.

"Sure, Iruka-sensei said we can have the classroom."

"Classroom?" Naruto didn't look thrilled. He didn't have that many good memories of the academy, but as luck would have it fifteen minutes later he was sitting at the front row of his old classroom along with Sasuke and Sakura.

"This brings back memories." Sakura smiled. Sasuke and Naruto shared a look both remembering the one incident they both would prefer to forget and turned away from each other with a disgusted shiver running down their spines.

"Sakura, just …. lets listen." Sasuke rubbed his forehead. Sakura nodded and looked back at Kakashi who was sitting at the far corner his face buried in his little orange book.

"Man, our sensei is a total slacker." Sakura sighed and then got hit on the head with a piece of chalk, which obviously came from the same corner Kakashi sat at. Without another word Sakura turned around just as Tenten finished writing something on the board.

"Alright, I am going to teach you this." Tenten proudly presented a complex looking symbol she drew on the board. The genin didn't seem impressed.

"It would be great to know what that is." Naruto rubbed his head.

"That is a storage seal." Tenten said with some surprise.

"A what?" Naruto asked once more, this time utterly shocking Tenten, who also looked at Sasuke and Sakura. All three genin showed various signs of being at least partially unfamiliar with the concept.

"How come Toero didn't kill you yet?" Tenten asked.

"He tried." Sasuke said. "Please explain."

"Alright. This is a basic seal that allows you to seal one object inside of the other."

"Oh, I get it." Naruto nodded and Sasuke noticed how Naruto suddenly rubbed his own belly. No wonder the blonde was suddenly so interested in the concept it was sort of a personal matter.

"This is the most basic of storage seals, most chunin know it, but I am very familiar with it because of my fighting style. This particular seal is simple, but very stable, allowing you to seal almost any weapon or other gear."

"How do we use it?" Sasuke asked.

"First you must learn to apply it correctly. A single, minor mistake and it either won't work, or will work, but not the way you want it to." Without another word Tenten opened the drawer on Iruka's desk and pulled out three rolls of parchment and the necessary equipment.

"Copy that seal in every little detail."

The assignment was clearly boring and the genin tried to finish it as quickly as possible. Tenten watched patiently sitting on the edge of Iruka's desk, while Kakashi giggled over something he read in his book.

"Done." Sakura declared proudly. Tenten nodded and approached to inspect her work.

"It sucks." Tenten frowned, making Sakura slump down in her seat miserably. "This how it should look when done perfectly." Tenten unrolled one of her scrolls and showed them her own work. Sakura had to admit that when compared her own seal really wasn't good. Sasuke seemed to struggle with the decision, but then unrolled some more parchment and started over sparing himself public humiliation.

"Seems just like mine." Naruto shrugged. Tenten rolled her eyes and took Naruto's parchment. She looked at his work, then at Naruto, then again at his work.

"It is perfect."

"Ha!" Naruto grinned. "I guess that calligraphy nonsense paid off."

"Umm, you could make several more, just in case." Tenten offered handing the parchment back. Naruto eagerly got back to work again. Sakura was too busy looking at her teammate with wide eyes. Fine, she could handle Naruto being better than her at physical exercises, but at writing? Her mind was refusing to believe this. This was impossible, beyond comprehension. She would have an easier time believing that Naruto was secretly a genius, which he wasn't.

A hand rose, grabbing the top of Sakura's head and turning it back to her parchment. Sasuke then tapped it, signaling her to get back to work. Sakura blushed and got back to work. Sasuke clearly seemed concentrated on the task now, while Naruto worked with his usual goofy grin as if he was enjoying himself.

"Better, but still not good enough." Tenten looked over Sakura's work. Sasuke got something similar, while Naruto made three perfect seals.

"Fine, no need to waste any more time, you don't need me to practice, just keep working on it and show me the results later. Right now I'll just show you how to work these." Tenten cut Naruto's parchment with a kunai, so that every genin had a seal in front of him.

"Place the object you want to seal on the seal and charge chakra through the symbol. That all there is to it. Repeating the process with have reverse effect of unsealing whatever you had sealed earlier. Just … "

"Ohh, let me try." Naruto pulled out a shuriken. He then tried to do just what Tenten had suggested.

"Bwhaaahhh!" Naruto slumped back his face black. His piece of parchment was now all black, it actually looked burned.

"Just don't overload the seal with chakra." Tenten finished narrowing her eyes.

"Yep, now things are the way they should be." Sakura sighed in relief. She repeated the exercise with ease. Sasuke took three attempts to unseal the kunai he used, but also succeeded.

"Alright, you can practice all you want, not that you can actually hurt yourselves with this." Tenten shrugged. "If you will need any pointers or more explanations, find me. Hey, Hatake-san, what about our deal?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure." Kakashi pulled down his book for a moment and made a shadow clone. "There he will show you everything you need."

"Good enough." Tenten nodded.

"Sensei, what is your clone going to teach Tenten-san?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, something that will work well with her style. I might show you later, just not now."

"When then?" Naruto asked after rubbing his face clean with his sleeve that now showed a large dark stain.

"Don't you have work to do?" Kakashi asked. His students immediately went back to work, leaving him more time to catch up on some reading. Just as planned.

…..

"So, what do you think?" Tenten landed on her feet. The field in front of her was littered with some many weapons that one could think that a huge battle took place here.

"This attack lack precision, but more than makes up for it with raw firepower." Toero looked over the area. A second later the weapons began to disappear, but not all. Still over 90% of the weapons turned into little puffs of smoke, but whatever damage they caused remained.

"Too bad it is so draining for me. I can only keep it for several minutes."

"There is room for improvement then, but I can say the same about myself. Still this is a good way to increase the amount of damage you can potentially cause."

"Thanks for talking to Kakashi for me. I tried talking to the third after Gai-sensei told me about the technique, but understandably lord hokage is too busy, he just redirected me to that masked perv."

"It was a good exchange of experience. Team 7 severely lacks in basic survival techniques. I am surprised they survived the second stage of the chunin exams. I personally had no desire to explain the use of storage seals, so in a way you helped me as well." Toero nodded.

"Come on, sure they can be annoying, but they are fun too, but whatever. I guess we are even once more. Knowing you tend to be quite useful. Thanks." Tenten smiled, but Toero looked at her neutrally. She again wondered if Toero would answer and was almost prepared to leave when she heard a single phrase.

"You are welcome."


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

"Oh yeah, this looks good." Naruto grinned when a large bowl of delicious pork ramen was placed in front of him.

"Eat up, Naruto." Ayame smiled and went back to work knowing full well that the large bowl would only probably last for a few minutes if not less. Naruto didn't just eat, he sort inhaled the dish. Sometimes Ayame wondered where Naruto was putting it all. He was a goofy kid, a bit strange, but that word applied to shinobi in general. Still he was a very kind and loyal person, so there was absolutely no reason not to serve him. It was never discussed, but Naruto enjoyed eating at Ichiraku's not so much because of his favorite dish, though that of course was a factor, it was just he felt welcomed here. If instead of a ramen stand there was a tailoring shop, Naruto most likely would've ripped his clothes on purpose just to have a reason to come.

"Ahh, Jiraiya-san, welcome. I see you too took a liking to my ramen." The old ramen chef smiled when the tall white haired man appeared. Ayame who was in the back preparing the noodles also noticed the man, but he had a reputation that made her very uneager to come closer. She just hated the idea of a ramen waitress appearing in Jiraiya's book as a character.

"Oh, pervy sage. How is it going?" Naruto waved at the man who took a seat next to Naruto.

"Stop calling me that!"

"Yeah, like that will happen."

"Tsk, you have no respect and here I was about to offer you a mission."

That for a moment made Naruto forget about ramen, a feat no easily accomplished in most cases. Generally the news of a mission would easily interest Naruto, but this was pervy sage who was talking, his missions should be just awesome.

"What kind of mission?"

"To find a certain someone, Hokage's personal request and …. "

"Jiraiya-san, I don't appreciate people sitting here without ordering."

The toad sage turned to the ramen chef with an annoyed look, but with a sigh ordered a bowl of ramen, leaving the choice of flavor for the old man."

"So, old man hokage asked you to do something and you need my help? That must mean I am awesome." Naruto grinned.

"Don't get too full of yourself, brat. I just think I might have a use for you during a mission, but it has more to do with your personality than your skills, which by the way are not awesome." Jiraiya leaned on the counter while Naruto turned back to his ramen.

"So then, do you agree?" Jiraiya asked once his own bowl of ramen was served.

"Umm, I don't know. I have to do lots of training with my team and all, I don't really want to leave them just to go on some mission with a perv."

"Pfft, it will be at least A ranked and I will train you while we are away."

"A rank, training? Why didn't you say so. What are you going to teach me, tell me, tell me!" Naruto was practically jumping in his seat while Jiraiya rolled his eyes fighting an urge to slam his head against the counter or drown himself in the ramen broth. To think that this kid had such hyperactive personality. It wasn't a good thing for a shinobi actually.

"I am going to teach you a jutsu. A good one, but it will be tough, it is not one of those simple techniques you can learn and master in a day or two. It is a complex, but very useful technique."

"I am not afraid of working hard, believe it." Naruto grinned. "Fine, I'll go on a mission with you if …."

"If? You dare set conditions considering how generous my offer is? You should be kissing my feet and worshiping my name."

"Why would I worship your name, pervy sage?"

"That is not my name! That is just how you call me, you ungrateful little brat!" Jiraiya fumed. Naruto eyed him angrily, but then just shrugged and turned back to his ramen.

"You are lucky I am in a good mood, brat. What is that condition of yours?"

"Well, you can pay for my ramen, to you know, settle the deal."

Jiraiya didn't like that smile. It was a smile of someone who was about to do something very, very bad and Jiraiya felt like a target. But he was a sannin, what was the worse the brat could do.

"Fine, I can agree to that."

"Awesome. Old man, keep that ramen coming, this guy is paying!" Naruto declared. For the next hour Jiraiya watched the blonde stuff himself with ramen as if his life depended on it. He just kept inhaling a bowl after a bowl without stopping. At first Jiraiya's face showed surprise, though he did know about the boys appetite, he just never witnessed Naruto go all out. The surprise was replaced with utter shock, as a tower of empty bowls kept growing.

"Ahh, that was good." Naruto sighed, rubbing his belly.

"Your bill." Jiraiya carefully took a slip of paper and began to cry silently. He could only hope that Naruto didn't eat this much during the mission, or else Jiraiya might come back broke.

"So, when are we going, pervy sage?"

"You have three hours to go pack whatever you think you will need and meet me at the gates. I settled everything with your sensei, so don't worry about that." Jiraiya said while counting the money. The ramen chef and his daughter smiled brightly at the sight of a growing pile of money.

….

Fifteen minutes into their journey and Jiraiya understood that the trip would not be peaceful, then again he never liked things to be uneventful.

"For the last time, we can't start your training. I need special equipment to teach you the technique, but we will only be able to buy it when we get to the nearest town."

"Pfft, why couldn't you buy it back in the village?"

"I don't know, maybe because someone forced me to waste a ton of money on ramen?" Jiraiya turned to Naruto. It wasn't a very good argument, but it seemed to convince Naruto.

"At least tell me who are we looking for, you should brief me on the mission, shouldn't you, after all you are the team leader."

Jiraiya sighed in relief. That question was worthy of a professional ninja, though it should've been the first question Naruto asked.

"We are looking for Senju Tsunade, my old teammate."

"Senju …. Sound familiar." Naruto scratched the back of his head digging through the memories. It was clearly something from the academy, but when he remembered the academy it was either Iruka sensei or how he painted the hokage monument …

"Senju, that was the last name of the first and second hokage." Naruto exclaimed.

"At least you know something about the village history. Tsunade is the granddaughter of the first hokage."

"Cool, so how does she look like? I mean I know she should be somewhere around your age, so she is an old lady, but still."

"Old lady …. Yeah, you'd be surprised."

"Huh?"

"Whatever, she had blond hair tied into two ponytails and brown eyes. I also know she travels with a personal assistant named Shizune, who also has a pet pig."

"Weird. What else?"

"Hmm, well …. " Jiraiya thought. When describing Tsunade one trait always came to mind, but Jiraiya didn't want to give Naruto any more reason to call him a perv. "She has a nasty temper and …. Oh, she sucks at gambling. Actually she is so bad, that when she actually wins it is bad luck."

"So, we are looking for an old lady gambler with an assistant and a pet pig? Why?!" Naruto turned to Jiraiya who was trying not laugh over the way Naruto summed it up.

"She is a powerful shinobi and the best medic out there. If you have an injury and if it can be healed you can trust her to heal it."

"Oh a medic, I get it. Maybe she will help bushy eyebrows?" Naruto turned hopefully to Jiraiya.

"I have no idea who you are talking about."

"You know, bushy eyebrows, green spandex suit, orange legwarmers, eyebrows that you don't see everyday?" Naruto explained.

"Oh, him. Didn't know Gai got injured, seemed perfectly fine when I last saw him."

"Not Gai-sensei. His student, Lee!" Naruto slapped himself. Figures people would be confused by two idiots that looked like older or younger version of the same person.

"Hmm, Lee, Lee ….. no, never met him. But if anyone can help it is Tsunade." Jiraiya nodded.

"Then what are we waiting for? The faster we find her the better."

"Hold on. I know where she is headed. We will arrive there before she will and thus will never miss her. I already planned out our jorney with enough time for your training."

"Awesome, you are actually pretty smart for a perv."

….

"Kakashi-sensei, was it really wise to let Naruto go on a mission with master Jiraiya?" Sakura asked Kakashi. They had just completed a simple, but somewhat annoying D rank mission. For these mission a full set of genin wasn't necessary, but Naruto's clones were missed. Those were great for large amounts of manual labor.

"Worried about your teammate? There is no need, master Jiraiya is a very powerful shinobi."

Sasuke looked at Kakashi with interest. It was strange that a ninja like Jiraiya was interested in Naruto, but Sasuke already knew that the toad sage was a master of seals, so perhaps it was somehow connected with Naruto's burden.

"I mean we are a teammate short now." Sakura explained. "You preach about teamwork, but how can we practice teamwork without all of our teammates present."

"My, Sakura, I thought you'd appreciate some chance of training with just Sasuke. Glad you are turning into a true ninja, duty comes first."

"Eh?" Sakura looked at Sasuke who for some reason took a careful step away from here. To be honest Sakura didn't think of such possibilities at first, but now that Kakashi pointed it out …..

"Well, you are right that teamwork exercise are out of the question now, but developing personal skills is important also. So I say we concentrate on that while Naruto is away. Sasuke, I heard that Hayate has a day off. You shuld use the opportunities to practice with that katana of yours."

"Hn, alright."

"Sasuke wait, maybe … hmm?" Sakura felt Kakashi grab her shoulder. Sasuke took the moment to disappear jumping up onto the roofs.

"Sorry Sakura, but I think I have been neglecting your development lately. You should do some catching up and as your sensei, I will do all in my power to help with that."

"Sure, whatever you say, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura sighed. She was a bit disappointed over Kakashi's decision, but if she wanted to be a valuable member of the team she really did need to develop her skills more and if Kakashi-sensei was offering his help, she would be a fool to pass it up.

"Umm, so what are we going to do, Kakashi-sensei?"

"I gave it some thought. You were working hard lately, even if it was somewhat against your will. But you are no longer as fragile and you learned some tricks that can save you in battle or come in handy otherwise. But what you really lack is a role, a purpose in the team. Naruto and Sasuke both have very clear roles. Naruto creates distractions, diversion, or large scale destruction, while Sasuke goes in for a kill with well timed attack."

"So what should be my role?"

"Ninjutsu will not suit. Even though learning a couple technique could prove useful eventually, you will never be able to match or come anywhere close to your teammates in that area. You are also not very well suited for taijutsu. Learning to defend yourself in close quarters is important, by again, this is hardly your best option. What you have is this." Kakashi poked Sakura's forehead.

"You too sensei." Sakura looked away.

"I am not referring to that nickname." Kakashi sighed remembering that Sakura was teased in the academy because of her forehead. "I mean your brains. You have excellent memory and your mind is well organized. You also have a good amount of willpower, as I remember you actually being able to overcome Ino's jutsu during the exams. I think we best put your talents to use."

"What do you mean exactly, sensei?"

"Your mind and your excellent control over your chakra make you well suited for the use of illusionary and medical skills. I know little to nothing about chakra based medical techniques, but genjutsu, that is a field I can help you with."

"Then what will be my role in the team, sensei?"

"You will be support. You can rely on your teammates to deliver the strike, but you will be their key to making that strike. You will protect them and make the enemy vulnerable. That will be your purpose. Techniques alone will be of little use, so when Naruto gets back we will work on combining your individual skills into something that every enemy will be wary to face. In a team, every member has his purpose, making the team a unified fighting unit flexible enough to adapt and achieve victory. But for that to happen everyone has to contribute equally and that is what we will be working on.

"Got it, sensei." Sakura nodded.

….

"Fine, we will stop here for the night and by tomorrow morning we will reach the nearby town. We should rest, especially you as tomorrow you will start your training." Jiraiya said. He and NAruto stopped under a large tree growing not far from the road. The night promised to be warm and there wasn't a cloud in the sky so little chance of raining, thus there was no reason to set up a tent. So the simple camp was set in just a few minutes with a warm campfire dancing and granting warmth to the duo sitting in front of it.

"Yes, finally." Naruto grinned when he saw that the water began to boil. He reached for his small backpack and pulled out a scroll. Jiraiya raised an eyebrow when Naruto unsealed a cup of instant ramen.

"So, you know how to use a basic storage seal. Very good. It is a very simple one, but good introduction into the world of seals for those who want to master this complex art."

"It is neat." Naruto nodded after slurping up some noodles. "I can carry tons of stuff around using these things. Kakashi-sensei explained that not all gear should be sealed up though. Some kunai and shuriken should always be within reach."

"Yes, using a seal, even a basic one needs time, so it is not something that is often used in battles, except for times when one gets enough time to prepare them. In most cases an enemy will not give you a chance to use a complex seal. The stronger the enemy, the less chances there are."

"Hmm." Naruto looked up and then settled his ramen aside earning a surprised look from Jiraiya.

"Then how did the fourth do this?" Naruto pointed at his stomach. There was no need for him to explain what exactly he was referring to. "This one seems kind of complex to me."

"Oh yes, that is one of the most powerful and complex seals out there. Actually it is so powerful that alone no man can use it properly. There are some weaker modifications, but the real deal is something nobody can replicate it alone."

"So, someone helped the fourth use this seal to stop the angry furball?"

Jiraiya chuckled at the way Naruto referred to the mighty tailed beast, but if Naruto gave someone a nickname it meant that he at least respected that person, or his strength and Kyuubi's power demanded respect.

"You could say that he got some help. Somewhat."

"What do you mean?"

"Fine, I guess you of all people should know how that works. The fourth had to summon a certain someone to use the seal."

"Who? Some powerful ninja or a summon animal like Gamabunta?"

"No, nothing like that. To use that seal the fourth summoned the Shinigami. Don't ask me how, I won't tell, but that is the truth. The god of death can be summoned and his power can be used to rip out the soul and chakra of any entity and then seal it inside of the summoner himself or another target. In this case you. As I explained before, only a newborn can live with such a power sealed inside of him, his body growing and developing with that burden. Thus you have an amazing amount of chakra, your chakra system and chakra pool grew in order to adapt to that great power hidden by the seal on your stomach."

"The god of death." Naruto mumbled. The idea alone terrified him. To think that such a being was partially responsible for the seal Naruto carried. For a second Naruto felt like some cold hand touched him, but he shook his head, clearing his mind and not letting his imagination run wild.

"What happens to the summoner then?"

"The power always comes at a price, often a horrible price."

"The fourth died." Naruto nodded sadly.

"If only it was that simple. No, the fourth didn't sacrifice just his life, Naruto, he sacrificed his soul. That is the price of using this technique. Once it is performed your own soul is ripped out and consumed by the god of death and there is no way around that."

"That is ….. " Naruto felt how a single tear rolled down his cheek. He knew the fourth made a terrible sacrifice, but not this terrible.

"So you have make sure you learn to use that power you were left with properly, otherwise you will shame that sacrifice, Naruto."

The blonde ninja turned to toad mountain sage with wide eyes and then nodded with clear determination.

"Don't worry, I can handle the furball."

"You made the first step, but lets not think about that for now. If you want I can show you the jutsu you will start learning tomorrow."

"Really? Come on, I am ready." Naruto was smiling again.

"This jutsu will fit you, especially now that you know a bit more about your past. The fourth died leaving you with a heavy burden to carry, so I find it perfectly logical that you will get to learn a jutsu the fourth hokage created. You will carry on part of his legacy Naruto."

Jiraiya held up his palm and in awe Naruto saw how chakra began to gather, spinning violently, forming a ball of highly compressed violent chakra that now illuminated the area. It wasn't big, but the power could be felt.

"Remember this day, this moment and your past, Naruto. Perhaps this knowledge will give you the determination to learn the jutsu left by the foruth hokage. Remember the sacrifice and the reason it was made. You will use this jutsu to protect the village as did the fourth. You will continue his work. You will learn …" Jiaraiya held his hand up, the jutsu shining over his head as the toad mountain sage stood up.

"….. the rasengan!"


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

"This is your home village, huh. It seems that it saw better days." Hoshikage Kisame shrugged, his famous sword resting on his back, wrapped in pieces of cloth, hiding most of the weapon and leaving only the hilt visible. The large blue skinned man looked impressive. Even the dark cloak decorated with red clouds didn't conceal his impressive form completely as he practically radiated pure physical power.

"It suffered damage during the invasion, it is not unexpected." Itachi replied looking over the place he once called home with a neutral expression. He looked far less impressive than his partner, but only a fool would assume that Itachi was a pushover. Rarely did the ninja world witness a such a talent. Itachi was dangerous and not just because of his eyes, but because he knew how to use them.

"Eh, you almost sound as if you are sad." Kisame smirked.

"Do not speak nonsense, Kisame. This village lost all meaning for me long ago. I just find my return here ….. ironic."

"Whatever. We need to find the brat and get this over with."

"It will not be that simple. You know just as well as I do, that Hiruzen Sarutobi has survived the invasion and Orochimaru's attempt to take his life."

"I am sure the two of us can take on the old man, he is long past his prime when he would've slaughtered us."

"Yet he remains a formidable opponent. No, direct infiltration with a high probability of combat would be a foolish strategy right now. I suggest we take a more delicate approach."

"Delicate, huh. You know, Itachi, I am not into anything delicate."

"Don't worry, I'll handle it. There will be time when we will require brute force, after all, that is what you specialize in."

"Sometime your tongue will get you in trouble Itachi." Kisame tilted his head his hand slightly itching towards the handle of his sword.

"Those who can be offended by mere words do not concern me, Kisame. Now please, stand watch while I gather the required information."

….

The sand shinobi that were taken prisoner during the invasion were now being released. Not all at once. It would be quite reckless to allow a large number of foreign shinobi to simply move around. Instead the sand ninjas were released in smaller groups that were escorted to the border by several Konoha Chunin. That meant that it would take several weeks for all of the surviving sand ninjas to return home, but at least now the prisoners knew that they would return and that raised the spirits in the prisoner camps. Before their fate was clouded by uncertainty.

Among the first group of the released sand shinobi were also those who suffered injuries. These men were healthy enough to walk, but clearly not enough to move around at ninja speeds. It took time to get to the border where the prisoners would get their weapons back and would be allowed to move across the border. It was actually quite easy to see a border between the two countries. Often borders were abstract lines that could be clearly seen only on the maps, but in this case it was far easier. One could easily see where the forested area ended and the desert started. The desert was of course a rough place to live, but sand ninjas smiled when they saw the familiar scenery. Desert or not, it was their home and there were already those who would greet them. It was logical that someone had to sort of accept the prisoners so that there would be no legal disputes later.

"It can't be." Baki gasped. The injury left by the arrow healed nicely, but he was still so weak that even the slow walk across the land of fire left him noticeably winded. But all his fatigue was forgotten when he saw his student. Gaara was standing just where the sand ended, his gourd on his back and the neutral expression on his face. Kankuro was standing next to his younger brother, also with his unusual weapon wrapped up on his back. Strangely Temari was absent and Baki didn't like it. He also didn't know what to expect of Gaara, the sand user was always unpredictable and violent.

"You the sand representative?" Izumo approached Gaara. The Konoha chunin was put in charge of this mission and it was a nice break from his usual boring duties, even if this mission had relatively low danger levels. Besides it was also marked as a B rank so the payment would be nice.

"My brother will handle the formalities." Gaara spoke in a low monotone. Izumo raised an eyebrow and turned to Kankuro who pulled out a piece of paper. It was a document that confirmed his position as a sand village representative in this matter. It had an official seal and several signatures. Without the kazekage the hidden sand village was currently run by the assembly of elder shinobi. Those were mostly retired ninjas who usually served as advisors.

"Everything seems to be in order. Here is the list of the released prisoners." Izumo handed Gaara the list. The sand genin also signed a document confirming that the prisoners crossed the border and were not harmed. All went very smoothly.

"It was agreed that the prisoners will be given an hour long rest before marching on. I trust you will not abuse this agreement." Izumo narrowed his eyes slightly.

"You need not to worry, nobody will move back into the land of fire, I will make sure of it. My village does not want a political conflict." Gaara spoke, but his words were more directed to the sand shinobi present. If any of them had any desire to seek revenge for their defeat, Gaara would stop them and few had any desire to engage in battle with the sand user.

"Then we are off. I wish you a pleasant journey home." Izumo spoke. He hardly meant that but there was no reason to be rude and the Konoha nins soon departed. Their return home would be much quicker as they now could allow themselves to jumped through the trees.

"Gaara, Kankuro." Baki approached his students. Other sand ninjas were settling down to rest an eat. Each was supplied with a single ration bar, hardly a meal one would be looking for, but it would easily last them throughout the journey.

"Sensei." Gaara acknowledged his teacher with a slight nod of his head.

"I wasn't expecting you two to be here."

"The capable shinobi are currently in short supply. We do with what we have." Gaara replied. "You look tired, sensei."

Baki fought an urge to take a careful step back. It almost seemed as if Gaara showed concern for his health. Baki never saw Gaara expressing any form of concern for the wellbeing of others, even when it came down to his own siblings.

"Yeah, what happened to you, you sort of disappeared before the invasion." Kankuro mentioned.

"One Konoha shinobi discovered my meeting with a sound ninja spy named Kabuto. I tried to stop him from revealing any information, but during the combat someone shot me from behind with an arrow. I suppose they worked as pair or something, I miscalculated."

"Happens." Kankuro shrugged. "We also got a bit roughed up during the invasion."

"What exactly happened. Konoha didn't give us any info, but from what I managed to gather you two were never present during the invasion and where the hell is Temari?"

"Our battle took place outside Konoha." Gaara spoke. "We were defeated, but were allowed to leave."

"Defeated?"

"Yeah. You know sensei, when we will get another idea to attack Konoha, lets avoid doing that. I got off easy, but Temari won't be running around for a while, a nasty break." Kankuro sounded a bit angry. He rarely showed deep feelings for his siblings, but never appreciated them getting hurt. Even Gaara, though his younger brother never suffered an injury until recently.

"What happened exactly?" Baki asked. He didn't like where this was going.

"Well, to put it simply, we got in a fight with four Konoha genin. They first took out Temari, brutally I might add, then pinned me down and then Gaara went all …. "Kankuro suddenly closed his mouth and looked at his brother. Perhaps it was a bad idea to remind Gaara of how he went berserk.

"I began loosing control, eventually used the feigned sleep technique. It got out, but it wasn't enough. I lost, badly. The power my opponents demonstrated, I am trying to understand it, but it is hard. But I realize now, that I didn't even stand a chance, the outcome was predetermined."

"That is ….. unusual." Baki could only mutter. It all was were strange. Gaara loosing to genin, Gaara admitting their strength. It was all very strange.

"Sensei, during that fight I felt something. I never felt that before."

"What do you mean?"

"I never felt it being afraid I never felt it hesitate, cower."

Baki didn't know how to reply. From what Gaara described Shukaku was afraid during the battle. But what could make one of the tailed beasts feel fear? What was the power that defeated Gaara of all people. Baki didn't know how to answer those questions, but it was clear that the defeat somehow changed Gaara. It was still unclear how, but something was different, very different.

"We should get going soon." Gaara spoke. "Temari will be happy to see you, sensei."

…..

Kisame was an experienced shinobi so he had little trouble with waiting when he had to. After all patience was a necessary part of the job. On the other hand it never meant that he had to like waiting and he felt that Samehada was getting a bit restless too. It was a while since the sword had a chance to taste chakra of his enemies. The Konoha shinobi were rumored to be tough and strong ninjas usually had chakra that could satisfy his weapon. Sadly Itachi made a point wheh he argued against a direct approach. Fighting could be fun by Kisame had little desire to die a pointless death due to his own foolishness. Hoshigaki Kisame feared little, but a pointless, meaningless death was among those things.

"It is done." Itachi stretched his hand and a crow landed on it. Kisame watched as the bird looked at Itachi, who had his sharingan activated, but then the bird sort of exploded in a shower of feathers.

"You know that you are creepy when you use those things."

Itachi turned his head slightly at Kisame feeling slightly irritated by that comment. Kisame had blue skin and had a sword that fed on chakra and to him Itachi seemed creepy. For a moment Itachi wondered if Kisame ever came across an invention called a mirror.

"Our mission has just became simpler and more complicated at the same time."

"It is not like you to speak nonsense." Kisame frowned.

"Our target, Uzumaki Naruto is currently out of the village and thus to a degree vulnerable." Itachi turned to Kisame revealing the information he managed to gather. It took some time, as locating the jinchuuriki proved impossible. Luckily the staff of some ramen stand discussed the young genin and mentioned the necessary information.

"What is the trouble then? I hardly think that a brat will be of any trouble even if he has that fox sealed up in his gut."

"He is traveling with Jiraiya the sannin."

Kisame's eyes widened slightly. He knew that name and knew how powerful the toad mountain sage was. His power was beyond formidable.

"Such man, both the Uchiha clan and the seven swordsmen of the mist look petty before him."

"Indeed, if we attack him we will die, perhaps we will take him with us, but we will still fail."

"Ahh, I see, we will again use the delicate approach. I am starting to hate this mission, Itachi." Kisame frowned.

"You are welcome to try it your way, Kisame." The two men looked at each other until Kisame's mouth curved into a smirk.

"Fine, we will do it your way Itachi."

"Good. First of all we will require a right moment and a way to separate the sannin from our target."

"And how do you propose we do that, Itachi?"

"I have a plan that might give as an opportunity we seek. Once it takes actions we should abduct the target quickly before the sannin gets a chance to interfere. Just don't kill the brat."

"Don't kill doesn't mean don't injure, right?"

"As long as he lives I don't care. The leader never specified that the target should be brought back in ….. pristine condition."

….

Naruto was looking around with excitement. The town was a busy place with numerous shops and stands selling amazing amount of various trinkets. Jiraiya on the other hand didn't seem interested in it and looked bored until he saw something.

"Hey, kid, you got money?"

"Sure, why are you asking?" Naruto pulled out his frog shaped wallet, which was snatched by Jiraiya before Naruto could even blink.

"Hey, what gives?" Naruto objected when Jiraiya pulled out several bills. That was his hard earned money.

"You made me pay for your meal back at the village. I hoped you would have the decency to at least pay for your own training gear." Jiraiya looked at the genin before tossing back the wallet.

"Oh, that, you could've explained it first." Naruto looked around, but to his surprise saw nothing that in his opinion could be used for training, especially when it came to learning the rasengan. Jiraiya thought differently as he bought a bunch of simple air balloons.

"Yes, these will do nicely. Prepare Naruto."

"Prepare for what? All those things are good for is throwing a party for a little brat."

"Like you?" Jiraiya laughed, but Naruto just glared demanding an explanation.

"Fine, lets find a place to stay for the night and I'll show you how things work."

A simple hotel was deemed as a good enough place and the duo soon entered their room. There after dumping their stuff Jiraiya demonstrated the exercise after he filled one of the balloons with water.

"Blah!" Naruto rubbed his face. He leaned closer when he saw the balloon move around violently as if the water inside boiled. Then it exploded and the blonde jinchuuriki got showered in cold water. Naruto glared at Jiraiya, but the sannin only laughed at what happened. It took him a few moments to calm down and then he gave a short explanation of the exercise.

"First step, rotation. You use chakra to move the water inside to break the thin balloon. You have as many tries as there are balloons, get to it."

"Alright, I am on it. You'll see, I'll complete this exercise before you know it."

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say kid." Jiraiya sat down by the window with a bored look. For a while his only entertainment was Naruto grunting from the effort, but his progress was slow. Still Jiraiya had to admit that when necessary the kid could concentrate on the task. But it one way or another it was boring to watch the kid train especially since nothing much was happening.

"Whoah." Jiraiya saw a gorgeous girl outside, a perfect specimen of female beauty. She seemed alone and a bit bored. Perhaps she needed company.

"You keep training, I'll go ….. look around."

"We both know what you will go looking for, perv." Naruto sighed.

"Well, you sure don't need me babysitting you, right? Just keep it up, I prefer to see results when I get back."

Naruto got back to work feeling that he already hated the balloon which had no desire to break. But Naruto was stubborn, so Jiariya left knowing that Naruto would never slack off. The blonde would just keep trying until he got it right. That was just the way he was and that allowed him not only to survive, but improve as well.

"Ehh, did he get beaten up already?" Naruto wondered when he heard someone knocking. Besides why knock when you had a key? Scratch that, Jiraiya didn't seem like a guy that was into knocking at all.

"Hey, pervy sage, why back so ….. huh?" NAruto with a frown opened the door, but the people standing in the doorway were unfamiliar, but practically radiated danger.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you are coming with us."

"Sure, like that will happen." Naruto stepped back into the room away from the two dangerous looking ninjas.

"That was not a request, I am afraid. Kisame."

"Finally, I was so tired of your delicate approach." Kisame moved with speed unnatural for such a large person, but before Naruto could even blink he was grabbed by his clothes and pulled up like a doll. To Kisame's surprise the blonde suddenly wrapped his feet around Kisame's hand pulled, trying to dislocate it. He failed to injure the ninja, but forced him to release his grip.

"Little runt." Kisame frowned and spun around delivering a swift kick to Naruto's chest. The blonde flew back and smashed against the bed before exploding in a puff of smoke.

"Shadow clone?" Kisame didn't look happy at being tricked.

"The window." Itachi leaped across the room grabbing the wall flipping himself around to end up on the outside glued to the vertical surface. His sharingan began scanning everything around trying to pick up the blonde ninja.

"Raagghh!" Naruto dropped down from the roof, trying to punch Itachi, but the Uchiha easily avoided the attack, grabbing the boy as he was passing by. It turned out to be another clone, that before dispelling detonated a smoke bomb. The smoke wasn't natural as it hurt Itachi's eyes, who in a single flip made it to the roof. Kisame appeared next to him, smashing right through the tiles that covered the roof. The both saw the blonde ninja jump off the roof onto the streets below.

"I'll shave his legs off for this!" Kisame growled and the pursuit began.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

One thing Naruto knew how to do better than most, was running away. No because he was a coward, hardly, but being a well known prankster meant that he had to escape the ire of his targets on regular basis back before he made genin. The civilians had as much chances of catching him as suddenly growing a pair of wings and taking it to the air. The ninjas were a different story, but even they often had trouble catching the prankster, who on more than one occasion sent them on a wild chase around Konoha. Naruto was fast, but also didn't seem to tire at all. His amazing stamina made outrunning him a task worthy of a well trained and experienced ninja.

Those skills were now put to good use. Naruto had no idea who those guys that appeared out of nowhere were, but each of them gave off a vibe similar to that Naruto felt when facing Orochimaru. These were ninjas in a league of their own and fighting them directly was suicide. When protecting his teammates and those he cared for Naruto was willing to risk his life to give them a chance for survival, but right now he only had to worry about his own wellbeing. His knew his clones would only distract the enemies for a few moments at most, so he had to act fast. Jumping down from the roof of the hotel he immediately created a clone that sprinted off in the other direction. The hope was that the enemies would have to split up to chase him now.

The streets were crowded and provided additional cover as Naruto used his much smaller frame to maneuver around. He glanced back and saw that tall blue skinned man charging through the crowd shoving people out of the way. The other one that looked a bit like Sasuke was nowhere in sight and Naruto dashed to the side.

"Got you!" Kisame appeared in front of Naruto and swung his large sword, trying to knock the annoying genin out. Naruto didn't know how he reacted, but almost instinctively he went into a slide the enormous blade sailing right over his head.

"Raggh!" Kisame moved his blade around annoyed that the initial strike missed. With a scowl he brought it down, but the genin gained a sudden burst of speed and avoided the strike that buried the heavy blade into the ground. Kisame pulled the weapon up and frowned. He saw that for a moment the kid's eyes flashed red and Samehada managed to taste a bit of his chakra. Kisame rarely saw his blade so exited as it visibly vibrated under that cloth that covered it. But there was not time to think over that. Kisame kicked open the door leading to the nearest bar, a place Naruto ran into. It was a low class place for those who could not afford anything better and Kisame immediately saw some drunkard that appeared in front of him with an almost empty bottle of sake.

"Cheers pal, we … uggh." Kisame didn't bother with the man throwing him out of the window as he saw an orange blur at the far end of the dimply lit place. People around moved out of his way.

"Damn brat I'll ….. again?!" Kisame roared when the kid exploded in a puff of smoke. Kisame immediately turned around and saw the man he threw out get up and dash off. The next second the transformation jutsu was released and Naruto disappeared from view, running into the nearest alley.

"I'll shave you to bits, brat!" Kisame roared resuming the chase. He was an S rank missing nin, but he was tricked by a genin. It was unreal. Still, Kisame wasn't used to chasing down his prey, usually those he had to fight had the decency of facing him directly which was in most cases the worst thing they could do. Thus Naruto was one of the smartest opponents Kisame ever faced, and one of the sneakiest.

Naruto was still at a great disadvantage though. Perhaps he forced his foes to slip up, but that wouldn't last long. Naruto also realized that the blue skinned man was not going to tire any time soon. Naruto needed to find Jiraiya, but who knew where that perv was. Running around was not an option, Naruto had to find some way to attract his attention. Something big. The first idea was to summon a toad big enough to tower over the buildings, but this was a heavily populated area and Naruto didn't want to crush several buildings with people inside.

"Shadown clone jutsu!"

Naruto created three more clones that dashed in separate directions, but before they could even make a few steps Kisame appeared, destroying two clones with one strike of his sword. The tall man then spun around targeting the original, but to his shock the remaining clone grabbed his leg and swung himself around it, wrapping his legs and arms around the limb. Enraged Kisame rammed the hilt of his weapon into the back of the clone's head, Samehada absorbing the residual chakra, but the original once more began to run away. Naruto understood that his pursuer was faster, so instead of trying to simply run Naruto ran inside the nearest building which turned out to be some storage area filled with crates. It was possible to hide in this labyrinth of crates and boxes.

"hey, you can't just ….. " Naruto guessed that the place had some kind of security and that security was unlucky enough to run into his pursuer.

One thing Naruto learned from Toero is to always expect an attack, to think before acting, to use a combination of your mind and strengths to overcome the weaknesses. So far that allowed Naruto to remain free and uninjured.

"That brat ….. " Kisame slowly looked around. Searching through this place would take too much time. It was just his luck that the brat ran into such a place that basically a perfect spot for those who wanted to win time, but there was a way to remedy this situation.

"Crap." Naruto swore when he saw his pursuer once more swing his massive sword reducing several crates to piles of wood. It turned out some of those were filled with fireworks, some with children clothing and toys. Most likely this place was a storage for a line of children shops. They without a doubt were going to get some of their merchandise ruined as Kisame once more swung his sword tearing down a whole pile of boxes not far from Naruto's hiding spot.

"Hey, fishface, looking for me?" Naruto appeared a top a large crate not far from Kisame.

"Decided to stop wasting my time? Don't think that I will go easy on you just because you decided to surrender."

"What said anything about surrendering?" Naruto grinned and made a familiar seal. Kisame charged, but had to destroy several clones before reaching naruto. The genin jumped down from the crate, but Kisame went through, swinging his sword. He easily dodged a single kunai and finally grabbed Naruto by his throat.

"Finally." Kisame growled and kicked Naruto in the gut, confirming that this one was an original. "Last words?"

"Yeah, you fell for it." Naruto grinned. For a second Kisame thought that the brat was bluffing, but then his eyes widened. Before Kisame could do anything he heard an explosion behind him. The kunai Naruto threw had an explosive tag wrapped around the hilt and now the blast threw both Kisame and Naruto away making both smash into the several more crates. But just as according to plan Kisame basically shielded Naruto with his large frame, absorbing most of the impact.

The first explosion followed by another and something shiny flew between Naruto and Kisame exploding into a shower of blue and red.

"It worked!" Naruto punched air. The explosion started a chain reaction setting off the fireworks that began flying everywhere until one particularly large rocket shot through the roof and exploding high above the city. But no matter how impressive all of this was Naruto began running again. He ran towards the exit and out into the street.

"Aghh!" Naruto suddenly saw that the way out into the main street was blocked by a large stone wall. The way back was also blocked off when a similar wall raised. Naruto looked around, but the world began spinning and he felt dizzy.

"What the hell?" Naruto yelled and suddenly was smashed against the wall by a strong hand. A moment later the genjutsu was lifted and Naruto saw that he was held by another person in a dark cloak.

"Just hold him, Itachi and I'll break his legs, slowly." Kisame appeared putting out his cloak that caught fire.

"Not, you'll do it quickly, all this noise will attract the unneeded attention." Itachi said his strong grip limiting the amount of oxygen Narto could suck in.

"Fine." Kisame reached for his sword with a wicked grin.

….

"Hello, welcome to the Yamanaka flower shop, how can I …. Oh, it's you Sakura." Ino lost her welcoming smile instead she lazily leaned on the counter and yawned. Clearly business was going slow and Ino was bored. During the whole day she had only three or four clients and those ordered nothing special.

"Hi." Sakura approached the counter. "Anything interesting happen lately?"

"Not really. With Asuma sensei here and there Shikamaru was in charge of our missions most of the time. You know that guy has zero motivation, so we were doing the basic minimal load. Only D rank mission and then we did whatever we wanted. Our dads were also often out on missions and all. Only Neji seemed to be training actively, but he is a bit of a workaholic if you ask me."

"Really? He must be, he is a strong ninja."

"He didn't have much chances to demonstrate that, but he never question Shikamaru's authority. I guess subordination was drilled into his, him being from the branch family of a Hyuga clan and all. He isn't that hard to be around really, he doesn't talk much, so he doesn't irritate me except for one thing."

"Like what?"

"He is totally immune to my female charm." Ino frowned. "And he is no gentleman saying that I have to pull my load."

"First of all, what female charm?" Sakura couldn't help but smirk when Ino sent her and angered glare. "As for pulling your own load, I agree with that. We are equal members of our teams, aren't we?"

"Yeah, yeah. Still it takes much effort to be a ninja and remain gorgeous."

"Since when are you gorgeous?"

"Always been, I kind of can see and adore my own reflection in your forehead." Ino decided for a big of a payback for Sakura's earlier comment.

"I ….. whatever." Sakura sighed. She had no intention of getting into an argument. Kakashi allowed her to have the rest of the day off and she was grateful for it. Kakashi made her work hard, but at least she didn't leave the training bruised, dirty and miserable. She also felt that she was improving and couldn't wait to show off her new skills to her teammates. Thus she was I a pretty good mood and had no desire to ruin that by getting into a petty argument with Ino.

"So, what is Sasuke-kun doing? Said anything about me?" Ino asked noticing that Sakura was not going to take the bait.

"Sasuke is busy, training with Hayate-san and Naruto is on a mission with master Jiraiya."

"So, you are all alone?"

"There is still Kakashi-sensei, remember? Trust me, I simply can't allow myself to take it easy. But what about you, I didn't realize that you had so little to do."

"Hey, not my fault you know. Asuma sensei resumed our training sessions now that he is back, so don't say like I am slacking off." Ino looked offended.

"And when is your next training session?"

"Hmm, lets see." Ino looked at a clock mounted on the wall right over the counter. "In two hours when I will be closing the shop. Can't wait actually, the day has been so slow."

"You think I might come along?"

"To our team training? Why?" Ino blinked in confusion at her friend's request.

"To be honest, because I have little idea what to do with my free time. Lately I have been either training, or doing missions, or resting trying to recover for the next day. Now that Kakashi gave me some time off I found myself without anything to do."

"Strange …. But I see why not, I see no harm in you coming. Maybe Asuma sensei will allow you to join us in training and all. It could actually be fun." Ino grinned. This could turn out to be another competition between them and Ino was eager to win.

"Thanks. Oh, I almost forgot. Listen, my mom wanted me to buy some flowers for our kitchen, can you help me pick?"

"Sure, that is what I am awesome at." Ino nodded and went into her florist mode. When it came to flower arrangement Ino was an expert and that was one of the few fields where even Sakura admitted the superiority of her friend.

…

"Huh?" Kisame felt how his hand was grabbed by someone. Despite his best effort Kisame was unable to move his hand even an inch and it was clear that there was only one person around who could do that. Kisame scowled as he looked back only for his face to meet with Jiraiya's fist that sent the tall man flaying back like a bullet landing roughly on his back.

"Jiraiya. I hoped to avoid us meeting." Itachi didn't seem concerned by the appearance of the famous shinobi who had just forced Kisame down a feat impossible for most.

"Let go of him, Itachi, or I will make you."

"I am sorry, we have our own uses for Naruto here." Itachi's fingers dug deeper into Naruto's throat completely cutting off his air supply.

"You were always smart, Itachi. Hurting my student is not something a smart person would do." Jiraiya narrowed his eyes and Itachi felt that began sinking. Almost in an instant the ground beneath his feet turned into a swamp and Itachi released Naruto who immediately kicked off the wall jumped over to Jiraiya, who never took his eyes off Itachi. The rogue ninja jumped back, before sinking to deep and looked at Jiraiya.

"Want to proceed, Itachi?" Jiraiya crossed his hands on his chest daring the Uchiha to oppose him.

"Hmm." Itachi tilted his head looking over Jiraiya with his sharingan. This battle would without a doubt end with the death of both Itachi and Kisame, that could hardly be considered productive. Sometimes aborting a mission was the best course of action, especially if it allowed to come back and try again at a later date.

"Perhaps some other time then. Kisame, get up."

"Tsk." The blue skinned man got up massaging his chin and sent Naruto a nasty look. If only he could go all out, there wouldn't even be dust left of the brat that managed to humiliate him. The two rogue nins slowly moved back and then disappeared.

"Hey, why did you let them get away, pervy sage?" Naruto turned to Jiraiya after rubbing his sore throat. Without a doubt Itachi left a nice bruise, but Naruto healed fast, especially when it came down to minor injuries.

"This was not the place or time for getting into a fight with such men, Naruto. You did good avoiding them until I got here."

"If you weren't such a perv this never would've have happened. Who were those guys? The creep that caught me had eyes like Sasuke."

"That was Uchiha Itachi, Naruto. A man who slaughtered all of his kin, except for his younger brother."

"That was Sasuke's brother? So, he is that bastard Sasuke wants to kill. Perfectly justified if you ask me. And the other one?"

"Hoshigaki Kisame. A rogue ninja, a former member of the seven swordsmen of the mist." Jiraiya revealed the identity of the blue skinned creep.

"Like Zabuza? Man, do all of those swordsmen carry huge swords and have a nasty attitude?"

"Their swords are special, rare ninja artifacts that are designed to have special abilities. Now get up, we have to get out of here before a crowd gathers."

"Back to the hotel?"

"Yes, but only to grab our stuff. We will leave the town immediately after that, I don't want to stay here any longer after all the commotion you caused. The officials will be all over the place and I don't want to be stuck with covering the damage."

"Well sorry, I had to give you some sort of a signal and fireworks seemed like a pretty good idea at the time. It is hard to think when a guy with a giant sword is running after you."

"Yeah, you did surprisingly well, guess that comes with you being the number one unpredictable ninja." Jiraiya smiled and Naruto replied with his trademark grin. They quickly made it back to their hotel and soon enough were back on the road. At first Naruto was worried that the two rogue ninjas would return, but Jiraiya reassured them that for the time being there was no danger.

"Hey pervy sage, those two, they were after the fox, right?"

"What makes you think that?" Jiraiya looked at his student curiously.

"What other reason would two high level rogue ninja for trying to capture me? They seemed pretty determined about capturing me alive and I know that if I die, the furball is also in trouble." Naruto rubbed his stomach. This fox was nothing but trouble, making his life miserable in ways he couldn't even predict.

"Yeah, they were after the fox. Don't ask me for what purpose, but you know better than most that the fox is powerful and power makes some people do crazy things."

"Anyone wanting to have anything to do with the furball has to have something wrong with his head. I mean I want to get stronger and all, but there is power that is just not worth the price."

"Hn." Jiraiya placed his hand on Naruto's head. "You got that right. But lets not forget, you still have to train."

"You got it, pervy sage."


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

After the confrontation and a chase through the city there was no sign of Itachi or his partner. Jiraiya seemed convinced that they would not come any time soon and Naruto quickly calmed down, even though he sometimes did look around with caution. But for most of the time his mind was occupied with mastering the rasengan. Jiraiya made Naruto keep practicing even when they traveled, not that Naruto minded much. Naruto had absolutely no trouble when it came to hard work, but his somewhat short temper often resulted in angry outbursts towards Jiraiya's sly remarks regarding his progress. The toad sage would never admit it, but Naruto was progressing faster than he had anticipated. Still there was no reason to give the brat any more reason to feel proud, otherwise he would not hear the end of it.

"Damn it!" Naruto yelled in frustration when a balloon once again exploded in his face. The third and final stage of mastering the rasengan proved to be the toughest. When it came to the balloon filled with water it was quite easy once you figured out that you had to force chakra to move in various directions, putting more strain on the balloon and ripping it to shreds eventually. The rubber balls were tougher, but the concept itself was much more straightforward. The key there was power and power was something Naruto could dish out in amounts second to none. It still required practice, ut somehow Naruto considered that part the easiest. Now came the final stage and Naruto had real troble wit containing the rasengan in a perfectly spherical form without the chakra lashing out to rip through the thin balloon.

"Having trouble?" Jiraiya smirked.

"Oh shut it, pervy sage, no need to rub it in my face. You know me, I'll get this part done eventually." Naruto declared and tried repeating the exercise. It didn't work out that well for him either.

"Right, you keep telling yourself that."

"When is your medic of a teammate is coming? We've been stuck in this dump for over a day now." The minor town they ended up in was famous for only one thing, a large gambling hall. There was absolutely no chance that Tsunade would miss this place but Jiraiya expected her to arrive yesterday, so something must've delayed her.

"She'll come. But you should be more worried about that exercise you are struggling with, because I see very little progress."

"Ughhh." Naruto wanted to say something, but just turned back to his work with a grumpy look. That went on for another two hours until Jiraiya suddenly stood up.

"Come brat, lets go meet my old teammate." Jiraiya declared with a grin.

"Huh? How do you know she arrived, you've been here the entire time."

"The toad mountain sage knows and sees many things." Jiraiya said cryptically, enjoying how cool that sounded.

"A lame way to say 'none of your business' is you ask me." Naruto didn't look impressed, but still stood up and followed the sulking sage out of their hotel room. It seemed that Jiraiya knew exactly where to go leading them both to a rather low quality restaurant, that more resembled a bar.

"Mind if we take a seat?"

Naruto saw that they approached a table that was currently occupied by two women. One was a lady with rather short raven hair, dressed in a plain looking kimono. There was nothing that stood out in her image, not counting a cute pig that was blissfully asleep on the seat next to her. The other person was hiding by the large menu, until she slowly lowered it.

"Jiraiya." The voice was both tired and annoyed.

"What?" Naruto pointed at the blonde woman that had just lowered the menu. "That is your teammate, now way."

"Who is that loudmouth, Jiraiya?" Tsunade sighed.

"Oh, just a genin I decided to teach a thing or two, look after the younger generation, share my awesome skills to make sure they don't disappear." Jiraiya shrugged taking a seat opposite of Tsunade and her assistant who looked curious over what was taking place. Naruto reluctantly also took a seat, looking at Tsunade with mistrust.

"So, brat, why do you think I can't be the teammate of that white haired idiot?"

"I am not an idiot!" Jiraiya opposed, but all present turned to him with a look that practically screamed the opposite.

"Pfft, cause you don't look his age, lady. Either he is lying, or he was a genin until he was like thirty years old, something I doubt."

"Hah, you picked a nice one, Jiraiya." Tsunade leaned back with a laugh and then turned to Naruto. "But it is true, we used to be on the same team."

"Right, I don't buy that. I actually think that all this time we were looking for you for a totally different reason."

"That being?"

"He is one hell of a perv, lady. Go look in a mirror and do the math." Naruto turned to Jiraiya with a frown.

"He'd better not be right, Jiraiya." Tsunade glared at her former teammate who began sweating.

"Brat, Tsunade is one of the few women I would never try to peep on. The reason is simple, she scares me."

"Ha, still remember that beating I gave you? You'd betterremember, try that again and I won't go easy on you, pervert."

"So you really are teammates?" Naruto asked in disbelief. "What's the catch?"

"Tell him." Tsunade leaned back with a shrug.

"Tsuande uses a complex illusion to look so young, Naruto. You know women can go to great lengths to conceal their true age."

"Illusion?" Naruto turned to Tsuande with wide eyes.

"Impressive, isn't it? I developed the skill personally." Tsunade explained with a hint of pride in her voice.

"Hah. You are a fake. Just an old granny trying to look all young and pretty, lame."

The roles were reversed. Now Jiraiya was laughing at Tsunade's expense, while the medic looked ready to murder the loudmouth brat. Shizune was actually worried for the boy, her master had a very short temper.

"Alright, lets cut the crap, Jiraiya. Why are you here and don't try telling me that you just ran into me on pure coincidence."

"Why, that could've happened." Jiraiya offered, but Tsunade narrowed her eyes, so the toad sage decided not to try his luck playing on her nerves.

"Sensei wants you to come back."

"Does that have something to do with the invasion that took place?"

"Yes. Sensei decided that with his age, he should step down as he already did once. He requires someone to take over as the hokage."

"WHAT?!" surprisingly that came from Naruto. "How come you failed to mention that, pervy sage? I had no idea we were looking for a new hokage."

"Relax brat, I have no intention of becoming hokage, not worth it."

"Eh?" Naruto turned to Tsunade.

"Don't look at me like that, kid. Who on earth would willingly become hokage? A job for fools with a death wish."

"Uh oh." Jiraiya rubbed his face noticing how serious Naruto had become after those words.

"I dream to become hokage, lady."

"Really now? Well that just proves what I said, because you certainly fill the criteria of a fool and your orange outfit tells me that you have a death wish." Tsuande smirked.

For a moment Jiraiya thought that Naruto was going to pounce the woman, but surprisingly the boy remained seated.

"Whatever, the village is better off without some old grandma trying to look young, who also happens to be a coward. But for the future, don't call the old man a fool, lady, or you might be forced to eat those words."

Tsunade tilted her head looking at the boy. His words irritate, but to a degree also amused her. She also noted that the boy seemed to be close with her former sensei.

"Big words, runt. Who is going to make me eat them, you?"

"I don't fight old ladies, you might sprain your back, or twist your ankle or I don't know. Go sit on a rocking chair or something, like old ladies should. After all you are no shinobi."

"You dare ….. I am one of the legendary sannin."

"Maybe you used to be, but now you are just a pathetic gambler and a coward, afraid to even admit her age. Whatever rights you had for that title are long gone."

Tsunade stood up, gripping the edge of the table so hard that cracks began to appear.

"You are asking for it, brat. Calling me a coward. Then why not show me what you've got, or are you yourself turning a bit yellow, afraid that an old lady will spank you?"

"Fine, you asked for it grandma, bring it on!" Naruto could not take it any longer as he jumped up. "Lets take it outside."

"Fine by me, brat."

"I should've guessed this would happen." Jiraiya rubbed his forehead as his teammate and apprentice marched outside.

…..

"How did your training go, Sasuke?"

The Uchiha spun around and saw Kakashi handing upside down outside of his apartment's window. He had just returned home after another session with Hayate. It was a amazing that a man that looked to be incredibly sick actually could move around so much without getting tired. His instructions were often were detailed, demonstrations complex, allowing Sasuke to understand every little detail when it came to using a sword. As any weapon it didn't tolerate carelessness. The first thing Hayate drilled into Sasuke is to respect this weapon, to see it not as just some tool, but a lethal extension of his own body. Sasuke admitted to himself that he somewhat liked the concept.

"Kakashi. Heard of knocking? I might have being busy with private matters."

"Right, like what, a girlfriend? When you get one I'll shave my head."

"There also other things that are private." Sasuke objected. The idea of having a girl around irritated him. Most of the girls he came across were useless, annoying, loud and for some reason convinced that he was their true love. That was just sick.

"Sasuke, your life is divided between missions, training and sleeping. So the chances of me walking in you doing something personal were quite slim. Let me guess, your idea for the evening was to come home, take a shower, go to bed. Exiting." Kakashi spoke in a tone that made Sasuke itch towards the sword he left in the corner.

"What do you want, Kakashi?" Sasuke decided to not talk about things that were annoying.

"Just wanted to see how you are doing, you are my student after all. Hayate says you are progressing nicely."

"If he says so. How is Sakura doing?"

"Oh, why such a question?"

"Her inability to protect herself is a hindrance during the missions. I can't respect a teammate that requires protecting and I hate working with people that I don't respect."

"She is doing fine. I think she will be a nice support for you and Naruto. She actually takes it serious, she even decided to train with Asuma's team when I gave her a day off."

"Tsk, we'll see."

"Sasuke, show some belief in your teammate."

"I believe things I see, Kakashi. You know, I learned one thing from the battle with Gaara."

"Do tell."

"I wasn't able to beat him. Naruto also wasn't able to beat him. But when we combined our power, we defeated him. You speak about teamwork and I see what you mean. But in order for that to work, all members of the team must be strong enough in order to not pull their teammates down. I can rely on Naruto, make sure that I will be able to rely on Sakura too and this team might actually work."

"And will they be able to rely on you, when they will need you?" Kakashi asked seriously.

"I can't hope to rely on their strength without offering the same, sensei. Like Toero said, any creation is only as strong as it's foundation."

"Hmm, well, I am glad you think so." Kakashi gave his student his weird eye smile and disappeared.

"Better buy curtains tomorrow." Sasuke made a mental note.

…..

"Lady Tsunade, please, reconsider, this is no place or time for …. "

"Stay out of it, Shizune." Tsunade didn't turn to her assistant who also ran out. Jiraiya calmly remained standing in the doorway as Naruto and Tsunade faced off in the middle of the street.

"Well, aren't you going to prove me wrong, runt?" Tsunade asked with a fake smile.

"I've got nothing to prove ,old lady. You wanted this, not me."

"Heh, perhaps. But lets make it interesting. I'll admit that you are right if you will land a hit on me. One hit shouldn't be that hard. I'll even throw in this necklace."

"Tsunade-sama ….. " Shizune gasped when she head that. Her master never in her life made a bet involving that necklace.

"Why would I want that junk? Whatever, you are on."

"Oh, no, no, no. Hear the end of it. Should you fail, you will admit that your dream of becoming hokage is a dream of a fool."

"That is the same as admitting that I myself am a fool, lady. In a way I think I am, still better than who you are. If not giving up means being a fool, I'd rather be one. Os there you are, I admit without any fights that I am a fool and becoming hokage is my dream. But I will not forgive you for insulting the old man!"

Naruto growled and charge. Tsunade sighed, but raised a single finger. That was all she would need. When Naruto got closer she lashed out with a fast strike, aiming to simply throw the kid back with her impressive strength, but the brat flipped back, narrowly avoiding the strike. He went low trying to get closer, but again was forced to avoid a strike. Naruto rolled to the side and noticed how Tsunade's finger tore through the ground with enough force to create a large crack.

"What, not so eager to fight an old lady, brat?" Tsunade mocked Naruto, who was crouching down a small distance away. The woman had monstrous strength to cause so much damage with a single strike.

"Shadow clone jutsu!"

"Shadow clones?" Tsunade had to admit that a genin using such a technique was unusual. But it wouldn't really matter. She lazily dispatched two clones that attacked her head on and saw that the remaining too the moment to flank her. Now the clones were sliding on the ground, aiming to her propel her into the air with a series of kicks.

"Poor performance, brat." Tsunade raised her knee stopping one of the strikes and grabbed the other two with her hands. With a smirk she slammed the clones together, reducing them to harmless wisps of smoke and then did the same to the last one, delivering a kick to his face.

"Raaaaggg!"

Tsunade with a bored look took a step back when yet another clone dropped from above. It actually smashed against the ground so hard that it disappeared without her having to do anything, but then she saw that something was left on the ground.

"What is …. " Tsunade coughed when she was suddenly surrounded by strange dark smoke that made it hard to breath. She never expected the brat to utilize such weapons. With a frown she stomped creating a shockwave powerful enough to blow the foul smoke away.

"Ow." Tsunade felt something hit the back of her head. She looked back and saw another Naruto who was playing with a rock. A similar one had just hit her.

"Next time I might throw a kunai, old lady. Why, do your eyes hurt?" Naruto laughed noticing how a pissed off Tsunade rubbed her eyes. She was in the smoke only for a short while, but quickly understood how unpleasant that thing was, but her pride was hurting far more than her eyes. Without a word she dashed forward so fast that naruto couldn't even react. She grabbed the Naruto who was in front of her, but he disappeared in a puff of smoke as he exchange places with the clone during the moment of distraction he had when Tsunade was in the smoke.

"Hey, what gives granny. I thought you said I'd win if I landed a hit on you, a rock to the head counts as a hit if you ask me." Naruto protested.

"Damn, you never got better at gambling, Tsunade. You managed to lose a bet even to a genin." Jiraiya laughed. Trust it to Naruto to humiliate a senior ninja and make it look like some sort of a prank. Sure Tsunade never took the brat serious, but that was her own mistake.

"Tsk, you want this necklace, brat? You sure? Those who wore it before you also had the dream of becoming hokage. They died soon after they placed the thing around their necks. I wonder how long will you last."

"Oh shut it, grandma. I don't know who you are talking about, but at least they sound like good people who wanted to protect the village. But I guess you'd call them fools too."

"Don't speak of things you don't understand brat. That dream kills people and this necklace symbolizes that. That dream is a curse, as is this constant reminder." Tsunade gripped the simple looking necklace around her neck.

"A curse?" Naruto growled. "What you know of curses you old hag?"

"More than you apparently. Look at you. You are just a kid with a foolish dream of becoming hokage. A child who doesn't realize that all those who held the title have died and those who wanted to attain that title also died. There is only one exception, my old sensei, but I hardly think he lived a nice life having to bear that burden."

"You like to speak of curses and burdens, old lady, you just know nothing of dealing with them. All you know is how to run, like a coward that you are."

"And what would a brat like you know ….. huh?" Tsunade gasped in shock when Naruto suddenly moved so fast that his image turned to a blur. Tsunade leaned to the side feeling how something passed her. She spun around, avoiding Naruto's strike, but did score a glancing strike on her forearm, his now clawed hand leaving two shallow cuts.

"Like my curse grandma? Imagine living with this in your gut!" Naruto lashed out with a barrage of strikes, trying to reach Tsunade who began moving back, avoiding the onslaught. She recognized that aura and that chakra that now filled the boy. Strangely he didn't seem to loose himself, just kept attacking.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto. Whatever curse you have, I'll take it head on and will turn it into a blessing!" Naruto made a grabbing motion reaching for Tsunade's throat and the woman had no choice, but to take a more active approach in her defense. A single strike to the chest and Naruto flew back through the air coughing out blood. He landed some distance away the menacing aura fading away, leaving only his prone unconscious form on the ground.

"You could've warned me about that, Jiraiya."

"Blame yourself. Nobody asked you to piss of a jinchuuriki." Jiraiya rolled his eyes. Shizune finally lowered her hands she used to cover her mouth while observing the fight.

"Hn. Better make sure I didn't go too far." Tsunade approached the boy and saw a trail of blood running down Naruto's chin. Her body visibly tensed and the medical ninja had to force herself to tare her gaze away from the sight.

"Shizune, handle the boy."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama." Shizune kneeled in front of the genin inspecting him for any serious injuries her master might have caused. Tsunade in the mean time tried to calm down rubbing her neck, when she felt something missing. She immediately turned back to the boy and saw that his hand still clutched her necklace. Back then he didn't reach out for her throat, he grabbed her necklace.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Shizune gently lowered Naruto onto the bed in a nearby hotel room. The boy was not going to wake up until morning, but surprisingly he didn't suffer any serious injuries after Tsunade's blow. Naturally she used only a fraction of her true strength, but even that was potentially very dangerous. Shizune knew better than many, that a real blow would've turned Naruto into a bloody mess of broken bones and torn flesh.

"Hmm, so he is the jailer for the fox. I somehow expected him to be different." Tsunade leaned on the wall watching as her assistant worked on Naruto making sure that the boy would not need any kind of special treatment.

"How so?" Jiraiya asked also coming into the room. Tsunade didn't answer just sighed. She took back her necklace from the boy and put it back around her neck. For a simple looking thing the necklace had a surprisingly long and somewhat dark history. It wasn't really clear of it was the necklace that caused the bearer to die, or if it was the cruelty of the world, but Tsunade didn't want to let anyone wear it. For her it felt like sending another into the clutches of death.

"I need a drink. Take care of the brat, Shizune." Tsunade walked outside.

"Drinking alone is depressing. I'll go give your master some company, Shizune. Take care." Jiraiya smiled and followed his former teammate. Shizune wasn't surprised that the two sannin had left. They had much catching up to do and many things to discuss. There was no need for others to be present, especially not an obnoxious loudmouth brat that surprisingly managed to humiliate a ninja many years senior.

"Mind some company?" Jiraiya took a seat next to Tsunade in a nearby sake stand. Wasn't the best of places, but perfect for those who wanted to keep a low profile. The man running the place served an order quickly and went back to minding his own business. He long since learned that usually people here preferred their conversations to remain private. Besides, the less he knew, the less trouble he had. Since Jiraiya and Tsunade both paid in advance, he had no problem with giving them a chance to talk without being disturbed.

"What do you want, Jiraiya? I already told you, that I have no intention of becoming the next hokage." Tsunade spoke slowly not looking up from her bottle of sake.

"Not really my problem. You can sort that out with the old man, he just told me to get you back to the village. I'd prefer of you went willingly, Tsunade, after all you are still a shinobi of Konoha."

"Heh, figures you'd say something like that." Tsunade smirked and said nothing else. Jiraiya waited for her to speak, but she just took another sip of sake, so the toad sage decided to change the subject for the moment.

"So, why did you say Naruto is not the wayt you expected him to be?"

"The brat? I thought it was obvious, Jiraiya. He has a tailed beast sealed up inside of him. Having such a burden I though he would grow up knowing the harsh reality of this world, but he is a stupid idealist, proclaiming his foolish dream of becoming hokage."

"He knows the harsh reality and cruelty of this world better than most, Tsunade, don't speak of things you don't know." Jiraiya narrowed his eyes.

"Care to enlighten me?"

"He knows pain, knows loneliness even knows betrayal. The difference is just that he never backs down, never runs away from problems. He has the guts to never give up. Can you say that about yourself, since I think that kid had a point when he called you a coward."

"You are crossing the line, Jiraiya." Tsunade scowled.

"Truth hurts? Face it Tsunade, all these years you've been running away from your past, but guess what it doesn't leave you. Naruto knows that the only way to deal with problems is to face them head on. Nawaki and Dan are dead, Tsunade, accept it, I doubt they wanted you to be like this."

"Accept? I accepted that long ago, Jiraiya, I never hoped for a chance to see them again, talk to them and yet I got that chance not so long ago."

"what are you talking … Orochimaru." Jiraiya realized. "That is why you arrived a day late. What did he want?"

"For me to heal someone or something like that. He promised to bring Dan and Nawaki back in exchange for that favor."

"And you believed him?"

"It doesn't matter. It is just that I want to believe that being possible."

"It is …. in a way. After the jutsu that can do that comes from your family, Tsunade."

"You don't mean …. "

"Yes Tsunade, I mean exactly that. He brought back your grandfather and his brother during the invasion."

"Yeah, I certainly can picture Orochimaru pulling something like that off." The woman shook her head and took another sip of sake. "About Orochimaru, one thing was bugging me …. "

"Only one? Are you perhaps speaking about another Orochimaru?"

"Stop fooling around Jiraiya." Tsunade fought down an urge to smack him over the head. "We both know that Orochimaru is not someone who would be concerned over the health of others. Why would he go through all this trouble to just make me treat someone?"

"Hmm, I can on theorize since we lack any solid information, but I guess he wants you to help a man named Kimimaro."

"Never heard of him."

"Kaguya Kimimaro."

"Don't joke, Jiraiya, that clan was wiped out."

"Except for a sole survivor. A unique bloodline and you know that Orochimaru is fascinated with things that are unique. He is a collector in a way."

"I doubt he just wants to protect a part of his collection." Tsunade remarked.

"Of course not. He wants to protect his own body. I see you are puzzled."

"Jiraiya, I have little patience with your riddles right now, just talk."

"Alright, alright, don't get all man, Tsunade, they say anger adds wrinkles not that anyone would notice under that illusion." Jiraiya couldn't help but smirk as he irritated his former teammate. "Anyhow, didn't you feel something odd when you met Orochimaru? Like he wasn't exactly himself."

"Now that you mention it, he did seem strange." Tsunade nodded.

"The snake developed a way to shed skin, as in change bodies. A soul transfer technique, his way of achieving immortality."

"And that Kimimaro is his next shell?"

"Precisely. You think Orochimaru would settle for a simple plain body without anything special about it?"

"No, he wouldn't, that is true. How do you know about this, Kimimaro?"

"Lets just say Orochimaru has too many enemies and one provided us with some very interesting information. Now that you told me about Orochimaru's request his plans became clearer."

"What is he planning then?"

"He wants the sharingan, but since that clan was nearly wiped out his options are limited. Itachi is beyond his reach, so that leaves only the younger brother, Sasuke. But now we know about his plan and the old man took some precautions. Unfortunately one thing Orochimaru has is time. Since getting Sasuke would be a complicated task he decided to make sure he had an alternative body when he would need it."

"So, this is a way for him to keep moving towards his ambition." Tsunade understood. "He will arrive here in a couple of days, I'll have an answer by then. But for now I need to think." Tsunade stood up and left the sake stand deciding to take a calm walk around the streets. This time Jiraiya didn't follow her. He told her what he wanted her to know, so it was up to her to sort through the information and come to some kind of a conclusion.

"Hey, set me up with another one." Jiraiya ordered more sake. He really hoped that the Uchiha wasn't having trouble with the curse seal.

…

"Hmm, without a doubt you progress very quickly, a sharingan is a ….. cough ….. great asset." Hayate nodded when Sasuke demonstrated what he had learned so far. The young Uchiha nodded and sheathed the sword. He knew that in order to truly master a weapon he would need much more time, but now he was confident enough to use it in actual combat.

"There are supposed to be ninjutsu technique incorporated into this style."

"Yes, that is …. cough …. true." Hayate nodded leaning back on a training log that now had several marks left by Sasuke's accurate slashes. "But you need to learn a technique …. cough …. first."

"Why?"

"The move I have in …. cough … mind is based on the use of another …. cough …. technique. You must learn it first."

"So, what technique is that?" Sasuke asked trying to hide his curiosity. It was a hopeless task when dealing with a ninja many years senior.

"Shadow clone jutsu."

"You mean Naruto's jutsu?"

"Yes, but you need ….. cough ….. Kakashi's permission to learn. It is very dangerous."

"Can't be that bad if the dobe uses it on daily occasions."

"Naruto is a …. cough … special case. He has more chakra than most jounins. The shadow clones …. cough …. can deplete chakra so quickly, that one can die. Your teammate though has enough chakra to use the jutsu … cough …. without any worries."

"Hn. So I can't use the jutsu?"

"You can, just not like …. cough …. Naruto. You won't be able to create ….. cough …. dozens of clones without feeling immense strain."

"But I will be able to use it for the jutsu you have in mind?"

"Yes." Hayate nodded and covered his mouth as he coughed once more. Sasuke was already so used to it that he didn't even notice Hayate's cough anymore.

"I guess I'll talk to Kakashi tomorrow. I'll return once I learn and master the technique."

"Sure you … cough …. do that. Don't forget to take care of your weapon."

Sasuke nodded and walked off. Learning to take care of a sword was one of the first things Sasuke learned. Unlike kunai and shuriken that only needed to be sharpened occasionally, the sword demanded much more attention. Sasuke's day usually ended with a routine of polishing and sharpening the sword. He soon learned that he even had trouble going to sleep without doing that. Sasuke also got a bit attached to his weapon. Sure there was nothing special about it, but it was a trophy and his first weapon of choice. Without a doubt he would remember his first katana through out his life.

…

Shizune could appreciate some peace and quiet. Tonton was asleep in the corner of the room, while Naruto would remain sleeping through the night. Since the boy didn't need to be looked after Shizune just settle down in an armchair to read some kind of a novel she found in her own traveling bag. She had no idea when or where she picked it up, but when traveling with Tsunade you could often forget such details.

The plot of the story wasn't very good, but it did allow you to pass the time and Shizune wasn't very picky when it came to literature.

"Bah, where is the old hag?!"

Shizune nearly fell out of the armchair when she heard someone yell. She looked up and saw Naruto sitting up on the bed. He seemed a bit disoriented as he was looking around wildly.

"Naruto-kun, you shouldn't be up and moving." Shizune approached the boy. He wasn't supposed to be even awake, but somehow he recovered much more quickly than she thought possible.

"Huh? Oh hi, you are the old hag's assistant ….. Shizune, right? I am Uzumaki Naruto."

"Pleased to meet you." Shizune nodded realizing that they were never properly introduced.

"So, where is pervy sage and the old lady with a nasty temper?"

"She and Jiraiya-sama went to talk."

"Oh, well pervy sage better convince her to come back to the village." Naruto nodded and got off the bed, stretching his arms.

"I thought you didn't want lady Tsunade to become hokage." Shizune pointed out.

"Pfft, of course not. I just know that she is a great medical ninja and I have a friend who needs help. So the perv better not screw this up."

"I am sure everything will work out, Naruto-kun."

"Yeah, sure. Anyway I better get back to my training." Naruto declared.

"I think we are not supposed to leave and I also think you should take it easy after your fight with lady Tsunade, she hit you pretty hard."

"Nah, that was nothing, I had worse. As for training, I don't need to go anywhere, just need to get the stuff. Now where did I put it?"

Naruto began to search through his pockets panic showing on he seemed to fail find whatever he was looking for. Finally with relief he pulled out a simple balloon out of his inner pocket. Shizune with some surprise watched as the boy sat down concentrating on the thing after he blew it up slightly. She saw the balloon stir a bit and then it suddenly exploded with a loud bang, waking up Tonton who instantly dived under the bed.

"Damn." Naruto cursed as a piece of a balloon smacked him in the face.

"I gather that is not supposed to happen?" Shizune asked.

"No, I suppose to do it without getting the damn thing blown to bits, but I just can't seem to contain the chakra."

"Erm, I have no idea what is going on inside of that balloon, Naruto-kun."

"Umm, I guess I can show." Naruto began forming his incomplete rasengan, the amount of rapidly spinning chakra shocking Shizune. But she quickly understood what was the problem. The chakra often lashed out instead of being concentrated in a compact spherical form.

"Maybe a bit less chakra, you will have an easier time containing it." Shizune offered.

"No, that won't do. For this to work I need to pull out lots of chakra or it will be weak."

"I understand, but why not start with a lower amount of chakra, make a stable form and then keep adding chakra until you will reach your limit. After that you will just have to keep working to increase the limit until you will reach the needed level. It is like training muscles. You don't immediately start with very heavy weights, but methodically increase it."

"Oh, I get it. Let me try it." Naruto repeated the exercise, limiting the amount of chakra he used. To his surprise maintain a simple spherical form was quite easy this way, so he added chakra. Slowly the strain began to show until Naruto was struggling with the jutsu. He added his second hand and kept going until finally the chakra escaped from his control.

"Awesome." Naruto seemed pleased. "That is far better than I usually do. You are awesome Shizune-san."

"Thanks, I guess. What is that jutsu called, I never saw or heard of anything similar."

"Oh, that is the rasengan, or I suppose it will be the rasengan when I get it done."

"Looks powerful, even the incomplete version."

"You bet, it will be awesome." Naruto grinned and then resumed the exercise using the method suggested by Shizune.

….

Tsunade was in one of those moods when even sake couldn't really affect her. Despite her effort the alcohol did not help pull her mind away from the problems at hand. Constantly being on the move, forgetting herself in gambling and occasional drinking she was indeed trying to move away from the tragedies that still haunted her. And now this. First Orochimaru comes, a traitor she once trusted, then Jiraiya shows up with a brat that resembles Nawaki so much that it was painful. To make matters worse that brat shared the same dream as those Tsunade dreamed to see and embrace, he was like a reincarnation of their beliefs. But those dreams could bring only death and her necklace was a clear symbol of that. The kid just didn't know what he was talking about … or perhaps he did and didn't care. It could be that Jiraiya was right and the boy was eager to place his life on the line not because of some foolish childish ambition. Perhaps there was something more, something that Dan and Nawaki knew and were willing to risk their lives for. Tsunade once more realized that it wasn't the dream itself, but the reason for that dream that actually showed the true nature of a person. Tsunade needed an answer.

"Huh?" Tsunade opened the door to their hotel room and saw Shizune observing Naruto as he tried to perform a jutsu Tsunade immediately identified as the initial stages of the rasengan. To her surprise the boy got quite far.

"Oh, lady Tsunade, we …. " Shizune stood up, while Naruto look at Tsunade with obvious distaste.

"Brat, we need to talk."

"Eh? You want us to fight again?"

"No, I just need to ask you something." Tsunade crossed her arms on her chest waiting for the genin to comply. Clearly he didn't want to interrupt his training, but got up with a frown and followed the woman out into the corridor.

"So, what do you want, old hag?"

"Hag? Why I ought to … " Tsunade took a deep breath and calmed down. "Listen, you said you wanted to become hokage, right?"

"Yeah, and you said that it is a stupid dream."

"That I did. Listen, why do you want to become hokage? Do you want to be seen as the most powerful ninja or something?"

"Hmm, it is not like that." Naruto scratched his head a bit surprised by the question. "Why do you want to know anyway?"

"Just answer."

"Pfft. I guess at first I wanted to be hokage just so that everyone would acknowledge me, but I figured that it doesn't work that way. You don't get acknowledged if you become hokage, you become hokage if you are acknowledged. But I found people who have become my friends, Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura, Sasuke and others. I must get stronger to protect them and the village and that means becoming hokage. But I guess you just think having friends and caring about them is stupid."

"No, not at all, kid." Tsunade shook her head. "It is just that all those I could want to protect like that are dead."

"That is sad, but I figured you'd want to prevent such things from happening. Nothing will change if you just keep moving around and gambling. Whatever, I sure won't sit still feeling sorry for myself, been there done that and you know, that is the worst thing you can do."

"People will die no matter what you do, Naruto." Tsunade stated firmly.

"Maybe so. But you know, if it comes down to that, I'll do whatever it takes to save them."

"I tried, sometimes you can't save them."

"I care for them more than I care for myself. If I can't protect them, then I'll try to die instead of them. You know, those that died and whose names are engraved on the memorial stone, I think they knew that their deaths meant that someone else could live on. To die like that ….. it makes it worth it."

Tsunade took an involuntary step back when Naruto finished talking. His reasons were different than what she expected to hear, without a doubt he knew the risks.

"When you say that becoming a hokage is a dream of a fool, you insult all those whose names are engraved on the memorial stone and who made a sacrifice that you consider stupid. I wonder, is there anyone left, willing to die for you?"


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Even though Orochimaru often allowed passions to control his goals he rarely allowed them to influence his immediate actions. In a way he was an epitome of a true shinobi. His whole life was a lie, even those closest to him often were misguided when his true motives were concerned. Orochimaru turned deception into an art. He could talk beautifully as he was a skilled orator, he had an amazing talent of convincing others, forcing them to do his bidding even without them realizing it. Orochimaru was a powerful shinobi capable of holding his own and surviving battles with the best ninjas the world had to offer, but unlike many he didn't believe only in physical prowess. That was what made Orochimaru stand out. His schemes, plots, his cunning and traitorous nature were his most invaluable tools that provided him with everything he needed or desired. Deception, not might was his primary weapon and also patience.

"Lord Orochimaru, how can you be sure that she will agree with your proposal?" Kabuto asked. He didn't like the idea of turning to Tsunade, partially because her skills as a medic made him seem insignificant. But that was the difference between him and his master. Orochimaru could readily admit his own faults and used his skills to obtain methods or individuals to correct them.

"My dear Kabuto. I can't be sure of anything, but when dealing with someone I prefer to target the most vulnerable aspect of human nature. Attachments."

"Many ninjas have lived through the tragedies similar to hers. Her grief does not necessarily make her weak."

"Ah yes of course. Such ordeals can be …. painful for most, but they have an amazing ability to make others stronger. They work as motivators, or constant reminders of a price of failure. But you don't know Tsunade, Kabuto."

"Yes, that is true, her image is that of a legend, but a legend covered in mist."

"That mist is her protection, just like that illusion she constantly keeps up. You see, Kabuto, Tsunade has one major weakness, she is incapable of letting go of her past. It still rules her life, her every action. She is trying to run away from it, but obviously fails to do so. But she lacks the strength to face it and thus she remains weak and easy to manipulate. I offered her a chance to correct the tragedies that haunt her and she will accept my offer."

"It is hard to imagine a shinobi so powerful and skilled to be so incredibly fragile. It basically makes me pity her."

"Oh my, are you growing soft, Kabuto?"

"You should know better that I can readily kill anyone, even those you might thing I am attached to. What you see is just an image I use."

"Because you have no true identity of your own, Kabuto. For a spy it is quite useful being a nobody, for that means that you can be anybody, with the right motivation. You are so incredibly dangerous."

"Hmm, she is coming." Kabuto never said anyting regarding Orochimaru's comment instead looking straight at Tsunade who appeared on the other end of the street followed closely by her assistant Shizune.

"Ahh Tsunade, we were just talking about you." Orochimaru's smile sent shivers down Shizune's spine. Everything about that man screamed that he was someone you should avoid no matter what.

"I don't care about that, Orochimaru."

"Yes, you clearly don't. You seem impatient, Tsunade."

"And you seem slimy, oh wait you are."

"You haven't lost that dry sense of humor you always had and I suppose you still have those violent outbursts."

"I can demonstrate one of those unless you cut the crap."

"Very well. Lets avoid useless chatter and discuss what really interests both of us. Well, what do you say to my offer?"

"I might agree, Orochiamaru." Tsunade frowned and Shizune tensed at those words. "But I can't enter into any kind of agreements without knowing what I will have to exactly or will I be able to."

"I am sure you will amaze us with your skills."

"Enough with the flattery. I want details about that ninja you want me to heal."

"Kabuto." Orochimaru turned his head slightly and gave a short barely visible nod. Kabuto reached for something inside of his shirt, making Tsunade and her assistant narrow her eyes, but instead of a weapon pulled out a folder which he tossed to the former teammate of his master.

"Hmm." Tsunade scanned through the medical notes. "I see, your subordinate is skilled at medical jutsu."

"Oh my, you were able to tell that much from his medical notes?"

"Much can be told about a person considering the techniques he applies to his patient. Your subordinate knows much about human anatomy, medical ninjutsu and other disciplines necessary for a medical ninja, but that doesn't make him one."

"Hmm?" Kabuto raised his eyebrow.

"You heard me, you know how to modify a person or kill him, but not how to restore him to his full potential. You are a butcher, not a medical ninja."

"Don't be so hard on Kabuto, Tsunade, he after all just carries out my orders." Orocimaru smirked, his long tongue appearing for a second.

"Figures. As for your sick guy, yes he can be treated and can make a full recovery with time, provided he gets the needed treatment and medicine."

"Is that a yes, Tsunade?"

"Just a statement of facts. Catch." Tsuande threw the folder back to Kabuto, who caught it on pure reflex, but then barely avoided a barrage of needles sent at him by Shizune.

"Get back here!" Tsunade yelled when Orochimaru jumped back avoiding her kick that tore through the ground. She lost none of her brutal strength. Orocimaru didn't expect Tsunade to deny his offer, let alone attack him, yet she seemed pretty determined. Her punch met the trunk of the tree Orocimaru landed on and that was enough to tear it down completely.

"Lord Orochimaru, we must move to a more open location, otherwise she will pin us down and …. "

"Don't think that you can ignore me." Shizune lashed out with a kick that Kabuto blocked, but then flipped, knocking the spy back with a graceful move.

"Why do pests like you always interfere."

"Anything to make your life harder, bastard." Kabuto recognized the voice and the next moment the needles that lay discarded on the ground turned into several copies of the familiar blonde ninja wearing a bright orange jumpsuit. They grabbed Kabuto's feet, pinning him down, while that last clone wrapped his hands around Kabuto's waist, further limiting his ability to move.

"Ninja art: poisonous cloud." Shizune exhaled a cloud of dark green smoke that enveloped Kabuto and the clones. It was so thick, that Shizune lost sight of her opponent, but heard the clones disappear as they inhaled the poison. But before the poisonous cloud disappeared, Kabuto jumped out of it, wearing a miniature breather mask that he took off once he landed safely in the middle of the street. Behind him Tsunade had just leveled a stone wall being in pursuit of Orochimaru who was luring her into a more open area.

"Uzumaki Naruto. I didn't expect to see you here, but I highly doubt that your presence is a mere coincidence. Let me guess, the legendary sannin will have a reunion today?"

"You should be more concerned about us." Shizune declared facing Kabuto, but Naruto was nowhere to be seen.

"You might give me a bit of trouble, but that blonde idiot? Please, it is a miracle that he still alive, he is a failure as a shinobi, he know not the meaning of that world, for he only has his stupid, insignificant dreams. I will end them once he decides to come out and I know a way to make him."

Kabuto tilted his head and charged activating his chakra scalpel. Shizune tried to block his strike, but immediately cursed herself as Kabuto sliced right through the muscles in her hand, making hand down limply. She moved back getting some distance and threw down a smoke bomb with her good hand to cover her retreat, but Kabuto had very keen hearing. He heard faint footsteps and with a quick motion grabbed Shizune, spinning her around. She soon found herself in a headlock with one hand wrapped around her throat, while the other was still holding her only good arm.

"Well, Naruto, shall you be a hero and come out to save your friend? I doubt you will do a smart thing and run away."

"You know, many people call me and idiot, so I guess you are right, I won't run." Kabuto to his shock heard Shizune speak in Naruto's voice and the next second he was elbowed in the gut as the hand that hung limply a moment ago came to life. The hold loosened and Kabuto received another strike, this time the elbow smashing into his nose, forcing him to completely let go of the one he thought to be his hostage.

"Eat this!" Naruto released the transformation jutsu turning back into his original self and spun around aiming a nice solid punch to Kabuto's jaw.

"Aghh!" Naruto screamed when Kabuto first pushed his punch away and then grabbed Naruto's wrist, the chakra scalpel slicing through the muscles. Kabuto then threw Naruto over his head. The genin flew through the air and smashed against a piece of rubble left by the short engagement between Tsunade and Orochimaru, both sannin now fighting somewhere in the distance.

"You will never learn." Kabuto scowled making his way towards Naruto, but was forced to pull out a kunai and deflect a barrage of senbon needles. Shizune stood on the remains of the tree he master tore down and both her hands worked perfectly. When Naruto replaced her just after the smoke bomb detonated, she used the time he bought to heal her injury.

"Yes, you without a doubt are an apprentice of the most talented medical ninja in the world to heal your injury in just over a minute." Even though Kabuto didn't look concerned in reality he hated the situation. His style relied on crippling the opponent, but someone capable to nullify the damage caused could cause trouble. Toero perhaps could endure the pain, but was still limited with the capabilities of his own body, but here an opponent could simply make his attacks useless, provided she had enough time to apply the medical jutsu.

"Don't turn your back on me, scum!" Naruto stood up, hissing from the pain in his wrist.

"Oh, you still want to go on? But you have nothing now. I know all of your jutsu, and correct me if I am wrong, but the shadow clones and the summoning both require you to use seals and with the way your hand is, you can't form even the most basic of seals."

"That won't stop me from kicking you around." Naruto declared and charged. Shizune clearly disapproved of such reckless tactics, but had no choice to support his advance. Kabuto had to pay attention to her, trying to avoid senbon needles, some of which were coated in poison. They were far more dangerous than the sloppy attacks by Naruto, who had no use of his injured hand.

"Oh, stay down!" Kabuto caught one of the poisoned needles and with a triumphant smirk thrust it right into Naruto's shoulder.

"Oh no!" Shizune covered her mouth, but when she made a step towards Naruto, Kabuto appeared blocking her way.

"How will it feel to know that the boy will die because of your own creation? Don't worry, I'll let you watch as he suffers because of his own stupidity."

"Bastard." Shizune narrowed her eyes, but her angry look only seemed to amuse Kabuto. Behind him Naruto was on the ground shivering, the poison clearly taking effect. Without help he would die within minutes. Shizune attacked and Kabuto with some degree of surprise saw that his opponent also activated chakra scalpel. Obviously being a medical ninja she knew the technique and her knowledge of human body could easily rival that of Kabuto. But unlike him she wasn't specialized in this style. Her moves were precise, but lacked the aggression and desire to kill Kabuto. Once over the initial surprise Kabuto regained the initiative the fight becoming fairly one sided.

"Like master like student, both failures." Kabuto leaned back avoiding a strike and sent Shizune flying back with a powerful kick. "I wonder if the brat died already, I unfortunately don't know what poison you used and how long it … " Kabuto stopped speaking when he felt something that made him take a nervous gulp. A menacing aura appeared along with a presence of something so powerful that it became hard to swallow.

"A failure? Don't you dare call others that, traitor!" Naruto roared and jumped forward the ground exploding under his feet. Kabuto had put his hands in a cross shape to shield himself, but the strike was still strong enough to launch him off his feet into the air.

"Damn it!" Kabuto landed his hands hurting from withstanding such an impact. "The chakra of the nine tailed fox. He is using it to increase his own regenerative abilities and burn out the poison from his body."

"Naruto?" Shizune got up, but Naruto looked at her with red eyes making her take a step back. Naruto frowned, but the menacing aura disappeared a few moments later.

"I hate it when people look at me like that, but I guess when I use this, there is no helping it." Naruto shook his head and turned to Kabuto. "Lets do it, traitor, we have a score to settle, that poison hurt like hell."

"Really now? My compliments, Shizune-san." Kabuto smiled.

"Shut up!" Naruto created several clones and attacked. Kabuto dispatched them one after another, but they just kept coming. The amount of chakra Naruto had to create clones at such rates was simply amazing. Whatever Naruto lacked in style he could compensate by sheer numbers and determination and very quickly Kabuto realized that he was getting tired.

"What then?" Kabuto looked up and saw Shizune appeared over him with a scroll. It was covered in simple storage seals and once she released then Kabuto saw bottles with some sort of liquid fall down. He did his best to avoid them as they landed and broke showering everything in an unpleasant looking yellow liquid. The clones nearby were reduced to clouds of smoke and Kabuto quickly realized why. He wasn't fast enough to avoid a splash of the yellow liquid when a bottle landed nearby. It landed on his left hand and immediately Kabuto screamed out in pain. It turned out to be some kind of strong acid that was eating right through his skin, causing immense pain.

"Freaky." Naruto commented as Shizune landed next to him with distaste written all over her face. She hated to use that technique as it made her want to empty her stomach. But Kabuto avoided most of the damage and even though his hand was now covered in horrid looking acidic burn, he could still use it.

Not giving Kabuto a moment to recover the remaining clones attacked. It was a reckless, wild assault and Kabuto tore through them with relative ease, but the strain was showing as he began to breath heavily.

"What?" Kabuto looked back and saw how one of the clones threw the real Naruto straight at him. The boy pulled out a kunai in mid air aiming to stab him with his left hand.

"Not today!" Kabuto slid back as he grabbed the hand with the kunai keeping it away from his chest.

"Just so that you know, not all jutsu require handseals. So if you think that be depriving me of one of my hands you make me helpless, think again!"

"That chakra motion? What is that?" Kabuto couldn't help but exclaim when he saw a sphere of spinning chakra appear in Naruto's right hand. It seemed that the boy kept pouring more chakra into it, frowning from the strain until he thrust it forward towards Kabuto's chest.

"No!" the traitor used both hands to grab Naruto's right hand and stop the spinning sphere of chakra inches away from his flesh. That actually meant that the kunai in Naruto's left hand reached it's target digging deep into Kabuto's shoulder, but the spy didn't care about that as he had no desire to get struck by that spinning ball of chakra.

"Raaagghhh!" Shizune appeared from behind and delivered a strong spin kick to Kabuto's back. The force was enough to sent the spy right into Naruto's jutsu that began tearing through his clothes and flesh as Naruto kept pouring chakra into it. Just then it sort of reached some sort of a point when the jutsu began to drill into Kabuto making Orochimaru's right hand man scream out in agony.

"RASENGAN!"

"Whoooaaah!" Shizune was blown off her feet when Kabuto flew past her propelled forward by the incredible power of Naruto's jutsu. He smashed into the remains of a stone wall that was nearly destroyed by Tsunade. He broke right trough it and a moment later whatever remained of the wall collapsed over him.

"Yeah, I finally did it." Naruto grinned while still holding the bloodied kunai.

"Naruto-kun, your hand." Shizune noticed a serious looking chakra burn on Naruto's hand. The rasengan wasn't meant to be held onto for so long as so much concentrated chakra eventually caused damage even to the wielder.

"Pfft, this is nothing. Lets go help pervy sage and the old lady." Naruto said and dashed off in the direction of the battle between the sannin. Shizune sighed wondering where he got such incredible energy from, but followed him. Her skills as medic could come in handy in that battle.

Only when the duo practically disappeared in the distance the rubble that covered Kabuto began to move and some time later the spy pulled himself out, nearly collapsing onto the rocks around him. His clothes were torn revealing a large barely healed wound on his chest. To restore his flesh after that last blow he had to use up almost all of his chakra, but otherwise he would be dead by now. He never expected Naruto to pull off a jutsu of such power.

"Ughh." Kabuto slumped down to one knee from the strain of moving around. With his chakra depleted he had no way to take care of non life threatening injuries, like numerous bruises and cuts. He just had to endure, but in his current state his ability to be of any use during the battle was under great question.

"They are going all out." Kabuto muttered when he saw how in the distance three massive forms appeared, a slug, a toad and a snake. The sannin were not holding anything back.


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

Orochimaru felt confident facing Tsunade. Sure he was a bit surprised and quite irritated that she declined his offer to cooperate, but that was mostly inconvenience than any kind of real trouble. As for Tsunade she was a formidable opponent in her prime, but right now she was far weaker. Not because of her age, but because of her state of mind and her ever present fear of blood. Taking her out would be easy, but Orochimaru did have a nasty habit of playing with his prey.

Arrival of his other former teammate was a different story all together. Jiraiya was always a match for him. Where Orochimaru could succeed using his cunning nature and impressive knowledge and arsenal of jutsu, then Jiraiya could outlast his opponents and overcome their defenses with his highly destructive ninjutsu. Facing both Tsunade and Jiraiya at the same time put Orochimaru at a clear disadvantage. His freshly healed wound began to itch as he remembered his recent encounter with his former master and Jiraiya. That battle nearly killed him. The situation was not much better here, but then again Hiruzen Sarutobi had no obvious weaknesses outside his age, while Tsunade was a totally different story. If Orochimaru could take her out of the equation then he could turn his full attention to Jiraiya and the outcome of that battle would be decided on relatively equal terms. Unfortunately his opponents knew that also. Orochimaru required a diversion, to create chaos on the battlefield, spread then attention and only then strike.

"Summoning jutsu!" Orochimaru slammed his palm against the ground. Despite the level either side was yet to draw blood, though Orochimaru did receive a nice punch to the jaw from Jiraiya, but it was still far better than getting one from Tsunade.

"Orochimaru?! What is the meaning of this? You know very well that I hate being summoned by anyone and you are no exception!" Manda roared.

"Summonig jutsu!"

The giant snake turned around and saw two very familiar figures appear. Katsuyu the slug and Gamabunta the toad.

"As you see, I require your aid in battle. I promise to make it worth your while." Orochimaru licked his lips with his long tongue anticipating a battle worth his power.

"Yes, I can see that. But for fighting these two you will have to prepare at least a hundred sacrifices and not some worthless scum that you yourself don't care about."

"Hehe, deal. You know I do have … my sources."

After hearing that Manda wasted no time and pounced Gamabunta, baring his venomous fangs.

"Darn snake! I'll skin you alive!" the toad boss grabbed Manda's head and rolled back slamming his powerful feet into Manda's body, throwing the snake back.

"Annoying bastard!" Manda moved incredibly fast for such a large creature, his long body trying to coil around Gamabunta, but the toad boss jumped into the air avoiding the dangerous situation.

"Acidic slime!" Katsuyu spat acid. Manda knew the dangers, but had no time to get away.

"Water style: roaring stream!" Orochimaru created a powerful water blast that met acid in mid air, washing the attack away. Of course Orochimaru didn't have any warm feelings towards Manda, but having his summon injured was simply not worth it.

"Aghhh!" Katsuyu was thrown back when Manda smashed his powerful tail into her.

"Down, lizard!" Gamabunta dropped from above right on Manda's back. The giant snake hissed in pain, but unlike lesser summons was incredibly durable and didn't suffer any severe injuries. Unfortunately Gamabunta himself wasn't counting on that, as he just aimed to pin Manda down. With the snake boss in such an uncomfortable situation Gamabunta readied his dagger to ram it through manda's head when suddenly felt something wrap around his chest.

"Huh?"

"Foolish toad! You are only good for one thing and that is being my meal!" Manda's tail lifted Gamabunta into the air and threw him back. That was the danger of fighting a foe as flexible as Manda. The snake was able to use his whole body as a very dangerous weapon.

"Get the slug Manda!" Orochimaru instructed. The snake boss hated taking orders, but right now taking out Katsuyu seemed like a valid option. Katsuyu spat acid once more, but Manda twisted his body avoiding the attack.

"Bunta, give me oil!"

"Raggggh!" Manda who was about to sink his teeth into Katsuyu was forced to move down and disappear under the ground to avoid a devastating fire attack. Even Katsuyu moved back from the heat as the oil began to burn out.

"Die!" Manda appeared from the ground behind Tsunade's summon and this time there was no stopping him."

"Summonig jutsu!"

"Arghh!" Manda roared in pain when he slammed against something hard, which clearly wasn't Katsuyu's soft flesh.

"Amazing, he still has this much chakra?" Shizune found herself atop of a giant toad. She stood next to Naruto who had a pleased expression on his face.

"Hey, I am Naruto Uzumaki, care to help me and the old people with that weirdo?" Naruto grinned. The toad he was standing on took a step forward and threw Manda back with his shield and readied the sasumata in his other hand.

"Of course. I am Gamaken, I will aid in whatever way I can, but I warn you that I am ungraceful."

"You are awesome. Lets get them!"

The surprised Manda had to retreat under the barrage of strikes from Gamaken, before quickly dashing back gaining some room between and his attackers.

"Orochimaru! What is the meaning of this? You didn't tell me about another foe to deal with, this is getting outside our agreement!"

"Tsk. I'll double you payment." Orochimaru growled and looked up. "That fox brat, how is he here? Did Kabuto fail against such a nuisance?"

"You look surprised, Orochimaru. Naruto is great at surprising others." Jiraiya smirked and turned to his student. "Naruto, Gamaken, cover us."

"Whatever, perv."

"We will do our best, but I am still ungraceful."

"Shizune, stay with the brat in case he gets hurt!" Tsunade yelled.

"Hey, that is the thanks I get for coming here and saving you old lady? Naruto waved his fist in outrage, but Shizune just placed her hand on his shoulder calming the boy down.

"Hmm, this fox brat is becoming a real thorn in my side. Very well, I might use him and his friend to my advantage."

Manda charged. He avoided a dagger slash from Gamabunta and moved towards Gamaken who covered himself with his shield as Manda lashed out with a strike from his tail. The toad grunted from the strain of having to withstand such a brutal attack, but stood firm, digging his legs into the ground.

"Acidic slime!" Katsuyu once again tried hitting Manda with her devastating attack but the snake wrapper itself around her and forced her to spit out acid at Gamaken who barely managed to place his shield in the way, before dropping it with a pained scream. The acid ate through the shield like it was made of paper.

"Orochimaru!" Gamabunta roared trying to grab the snake sannin off Manda's neck, but Orochimaru's long tongue shot out wrapping around Gamaken's weapon and the traitorous sannin flung himself over to Gamaken's head.

"Katsuyu, split!" Tsunade ordered and jumped off as her summon broke into hundred of identical, but smaller copies of herself, escaping Manda.

"Bastard!" Tsunade began dropping down onto Gamaken's head as Orochimaru engaged Naruto and Shizune.

"Shadow cl ….." Orochimaru never allowed Naruto to finish, delivering a kick that threw the boy down to the ground.

"Naruto!" Shizune watched the boy fall in fear, but was grabbed and used as a human shield when Tsunade landed.

"Quite a predicament, eh Tsunade?" Orochimaru grinned and rammed a kunai into Shizune's chest much to Tsunade's horror. He twisted it an immediately pulled out. Tsunade felt something splash against her face, something warm. She wiped her face with her hand and saw something red. Tsunade was covered in the blood of her own assistant, who now looked deathly pale.

"Well this worked out quite well." Orochimaru grinned. While Jiraiya was busy helping Gamabunta and Katsuyu subdue Manda, Orochimaru was left to do whatever he wanted with Tsunade, who right now was visibly trembling.

"Now, I suppose I don't need this anymore." Orochimaru threw Shizune to the side, off Gamaken's head. "You should've accepted my offer, Tsunade. But I guess you are too eager to meet up with your little brother and lover in the afterlife. So be it."

Orochimaru raised the kunai. To Tsunade it looked as if he was moving in slow motion, the razor sharp blade coming closer and closer to her throat, but her body wouldn't move. She was helpless.

"Agghh!" Orochimaru's face suddenly connected with a kick that threw the snake sannin back.

"Help her, grandma, you can do that at least." Naruto lowered Shizune down next to Tsunade. It was a good thing Naruto managed to catch her before she hit the ground like he did.

"What an interesting unpredictable child you are, Naruto-kun. I seems that you just refuse to die."

"That's right, until I become hokage, I won't die, so just go back and crawl into whatever hole you came from."

"Big words from a genin." Orochimaru smirked and charged at Naruto.

"Gamaken, release the summoning!" Naruto yelled and the giant toad they were atop of disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Little bastard!" Orochimaru cursed when he lost his footing and began falling down. Tsunade who regained some control of her body grabbed her apprentice and landed a small distance away to start healing her. But the wound, blood. Tsunade's hands trembled as she tried to active a healing technique to stop the bleeding. In front of her Naruto was creating clones trying to distract Orochimaru, but was only getting pummeled into the ground by a much more powerful shinobi.

"Get a hold of yourself, Tsunade, just breath and work."

"_You like to speak of curses and burdens, old lady, you just know nothing of dealing with them. All you know is how to run, like a coward that you are._"

For some reason Naruto's words rang in her head, as she desperately tried to heal her wounded apprentice. Naruto was truly a fool, but that fool was right now facing Orochimaru and not trying to escape. For some reason he was willing to protect her and Shizune even if he had just met them.

"_Whatever curse you have, I'll take it head on and will turn it into a blessing!_"

He never ran away, never gave up. He had a strenght of spirit she never did. Things that broke her, would never brake him, for he was used to suffering. He spirit was like a blade forged in the fire of his own curse.

„_I care for them more than I care for myself. If I can't protect them, then I'll try to die instead of them. You know, those that died and whose names are engraved on the memorial stone, I think they knew that their deaths meant that someone else could live on. To die like that ….. it makes it worth it_."

To die like that, so that others could live on. Nawaki, Dan, they died without regrets. They understood what it meant to be hokage and that boy, despite his curse, despite being a jinchuuriki understood it. Right now he was far more worthy to become hokage than she was.

„_When you say that becoming a hokage is a dream of a fool, you insult all those whose names are engraved on the memorial stone and who made a sacrifice that you consider stupid. I wonder, is there anyone left, willing to die for you?_"

Shizune was dying infront of her, arter coming to help her. Naruto was fighting and would without a doubt loose, trying to save her. And here she was, trembling and unable to do anything. Naruto was right, she had no right to call herself a sannin. She was not worthy of becoming the fifth hokage. Not like this.

„Aghhh!" Naruto spat out blood arter Orochimaru rammed him into the ground. He could kill the boy quickly, but Tsunade was not going anywhere and Jiraiya was busy if the sound of battle in the distance was of any indication.

„Well, how does it feel? Do you think you will be able to achieve your foolish dream now? But how can you, if you will die in a moment?"

„Because he won't die." Orochimaru saw a hand land on his shoulder. It was was covered in blood, but to his shock, it wasn't trembling. Instead it held his shoulder firmly, until he felt a fist being rammed into his lower back. The strike sent him flying away like a bullet and crashing onto the ground ungracefully.

„Not while I am around."

„Huh? Granny Tsunade?" Naruto sat despite the pain in his chest, Orochimaru most likely broke several of his ribs.

„You did well, genin. You protected fellow leaf ninjas, but now let me protect you. As the fifth hokage of the village hidden in the leaves! Come Orochimaru!" Tsunade turned to her former teammate, who got up with a pained moan. He couldn't understand what got into Tsunade. One moment she was a broken wreck, the next she stood firm like his equal.

„Fine, I suppose I played around for long enough. Time for me to leave."

„Who said I am going to let you?" Tsunade growled.

„You'd better stand down, lady Tsunade, it would be a shame to ruin all the fine work you did here. I must admit I am impressed, to stop such severe bleeding, my compliments."

Tsunade looked back and saw Kabuto crouching down over an unconscious Shizune. The spy had a kunai placed against her throat, threatening to kill the young woman.

"How ironic Tsunade. Will you let your dear assistant die just to kill me, or will you let your feelings once more get the best of you and let me escape only to see her live on."

"Shut up and get out of here, bastard. Your life is not worth hers."

"Touching. It was nice meeting you once again, Tsunade. Too bad you never understood what it means to be a shinobi. You still cling to those ideals that Sarutobi-sensei preached about. I expected you to be smarter."

"I said, leave, Orochimaru." Tsuande narrowed her eyes and Orochimaru felt Tsuande build up chakra.

"Tsk. Kabuto, we are pulling back." Orochimaru said and sank into the ground.

"You proved much more of a challenge than I could've anticipated, Naruto. Next time we meet I will not make a mistake of underestimating you." Kabuto smirked and disappeared in a puff of smoke. In the distance Manda also disappeared, being already severely weakened from the fight. Gamabunta and Katsuyu didn't look much better and were glad that the fight was over, though the toad boss yelled at Jiraiya for being too reckless, before disappearing.

…

"Still can't believe the old lady is going to be the new hokage." Naruto ranted as they walked back to Konoha. Shizune recovered nicely, not counting a thin red scar that now decorated her chest. She found Naruto incredibly amusing, but now she also respected the blonde genin, who showed more than just skill, he showed strength of spirit and the will of fire, matched by only few.

"Listen brat, I agreed to this job, so that means I am your boss, you might want to act accordingly."

"First of all, you are not the fifth hokage yet, the old man still has to make it official, sign those papers he always signs and do other ….. stuff. Another thing is that if you expect me to crawl around on my knees kissing your toes just because you are the head of the village, you have another thing coming, old lady. You are still not exactly hokage material in my book. You have a nasty temper, you still hide under that illusion and you are still a pathetic gambler."

"He does have a point, sort of." Jiraiya rubbed his chin. Making Tsuande send a glare his way that promise slow and painful demise.

"You just don't know when to shut up, brat. But you were right about some things, I guess. Here, you after all won it."

"Eh? The necklace? Forgot all about it. What is the big deal about this little green rock anyway, looks kind of plain to me."

"Just take it, do you have to ask so many questions?" Tsunade looked irritated.

"Well, if you ask so nicely." Naruto's voice dripped with sarcasm, but he took the necklace looking over it curiously. Somehow it felt right to have this thing, so with a smile Naruto tied it around his neck and grinned. "One things for sure, it looks better on me."

"Keep thinking like that, brat." Tsunade sighed. "But just for your comments, I hope you and your team loves D-rank missions, I won't forget mentioning that it is your fault they will be stuck doing chores. Who are his teammates by the way?" Tsunade turned to Jiraiya, while Naruto felt a shiver run down his spine. Both Sasuke and Sakura would be out for his blood.

"Hmm, a Uchiha and some pink haired girl, can't remember her name."

"Her name is Sakura and the teme is Sasuke." Naruto shook his head.

"Personally, I don't care much, I am not their sensei. Oh and you need to work to master the rasengan. The way you do it just won't cut it."

"Worked fine against Kabuto."

"That is just because you surprised him. I won't say that it is a bad thing, but you need to learn to create a full power rasengan quickly in order to incorporate it into your fighting style. Generally enemies won't stand around waiting until you power it up."

"Alright, I get that, pervy sage, I need to do it more quickly. Doesn't change the fact that I can do it though. Shizune turned out to be more helpful than you ever were."

"Yes, yes. I expect you to work you butt off once we get back. If I teach you a jutsu I want you to use it perfectly and not stop halfway there."

"You know me, pervy sage, I am not the one to give up."

"You can say that again." Tsunade sighed. One thing certain, with Naruto around things would never me boring or quiet.


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

"Yeah finally back!" Naruto punched air as their group approached the gates of the hidden leaf village. The brand new gates were freshly painted and had the symbol of the hidden leaf engraved on them. If anything they looked even more impressive than those that were destroyed during the invasion. Still, nobody bothered reinforcing them, because for a ninja a gate was hardly an obstacle.

"Heh, aren't you happy to be back?" Jiraiya smirked.

"Why shouldn't I be. First of all we completed the mission, I am going to get paid, will buy ramen at Ichiraku's, see my teammates and show them my new jutsu. I just can't wait to see Sasuke's face when I show it to him ….. "

"Don't you want to first master it completely? Kind of stupid boasting about a jutsu without mastering it yet."

"Pfft, fine, whatever, I'll think about it."

"You'd better." Jiraiya nodded.

"Names, purpose for arrival." The whole group stopped when they heard a neutral official tone of someone standing by the gates.

"Oh it's you." Naruto frowned.

"Yes, Uzumaki, me. I believe you returned from a mission." Toero said walking over to the booth and opening the journal. After all everyone who left or arrived at the village had to be noted.

"Come on, you know his name, so just write him down." Tenten rolled her eyes, but waved to Naruto in a friendly manner. Toero didn't say anything, but did as she suggested. He also made a note about Jiraiya and then turned to Tsunade and her assistant.

"Name?"

"Senju Tsunade." The female sannin said proudly. She clearly expected some kind of a reaction.

"What? No way, really? Tsunade-sama, as in the Tsunade-sama." Tenten jumped up with stars in her eyes having just met her idol.

"Er, yes that is me." Tsunade was a bit surprised by the girl reacting that much, but was also pleased at that.

"I am so honored to meet you, you inspired me to become a ninja, I mean you have got to be the greatest kunoichi ever!"

"She? She is just and old granny who … ouch!" Naruto was rammed into the ground by Tsunade's fist.

"What did I say about you calling me old?"

"Like I care what you said, grandma!" Naruto pulled himself up and dusted himself.

"Naruto, you don't talk to lady Tsunade in such a manner, don't you know who she is?"

"I know very well who she is. I think I know far more than you for that matter." Naruto looked at Tenten, who blinked in confusion.

"Purpose of arrival?" everyone turned to Toero who didn't seem interested in the little exchange that took place.

"I am here to meet my old sensei." Tsunade said with a sigh looking over the chunin on front of her. He seemed strange for some reason and it wasn't the bow on his back.

"You are also here to help bushy eyebrows to get better." Naruto said looked at Tsunade who rubbed her temples before nodding to that. Naruto really got on her nerves with that one.

"Official meeting and medical services then." Toero wrote it down and looked at Shizune who politely introduced herself.

"She is my assistant, that should be enough." Tsunade stated.

"You may proceed." Toero closed the journal and watched as the group walked off in the direction of the hokage's tower.

"That was lady Tsunade, in the flesh. Toero, that was lady Tsunade."

"I heard it the first time."

"Aren't you excited? She is one of the most famous ninjas in Konoha, one of the legendary sannin."

"So is Orochimaru."

Tenten's face lost all the excitement that was written all over it a moment ago. If anyone, Toero wasn't the one to be impressed by the title, considering his past with Orochimaru.

"Sorry, it is just that I sort of idolize her I guess."

"Try not to be so vocal about it."

"Oh, and why shouldn't I express myself?"

"Because you behave much like those girls that fawn over the Uchiha for no logical reason. I recall you once called them a disgrace to the image of a real kunoichi."

"Was I really like that?"

"More or less."

"Well darn, I don't want lady Tsunade to think I am some unprofessional idiot."

"I doubt she will care much." Toero shrugged and went silent once more. Tenten sighed and looked at him. How on earth could he just stand like that patiently was still a mystery for her. These guard duty assignments were a torture. First she had to endure D rank missions as a genin, now she had guard duty as a chunin, and there would be patrol missions when she would make jounin. Even the hokage had his own torture, paperwork. Either way, no matter what rank you were, you always had some boring duty that you hated with all your heart.

….

"Hey old man, mission accomplished." Naruto grinned walking into Hiruzen's office. The old hokage looked up from his desk and released a puff of smoke before putting down his pipe. He saw that after Naruto Jiraiya walked in, followed by Tsunade and her assistant Shizune.

"Good to see you back in the village, Tsunade. Had a pleasant trip?"

"Does that snake freak count as part of the trip?" Naruto asked and Hiruzen now looked much more concerned.

"Orochimaru?"

"Yeah, we ran into him and that traitor Kabuto. Had to get our hands dirty." Jiraiya explained.

"Troubling. Naruto, me and my former students have very much to discuss, so you are dismissed. My secretary will hand out your payment and of course good work completing the mission."

"Awesome, hey, since granny will be busy here with you, can I take Shizune-san to see Bushy eyebrows? I mean she is also a medic, should be able to …. I don't know, look over him, prepare for when the old lady will come by?"

"For once you said something that makes sense." Tsunade nodded. "Shizune, go with him, this conversation will be private."

"Yes, lady Tsunade." Shizune followed Naruto outside after he picked up his payment. Higher ranking missions sure were worth it if the payment was of any indication.

"So, this … patient, is he a friend of yours?" Shizune just couldn't name anyone using Naruto's nicknames.

"Oh yeah, he a ninja who only uses taijutsu. He trains very hard and is very strong, well, was until Gaara injured him. So I want the old lady to heal him, because he is an awesome ninja!"

"I see, sounds like he is a good person, I'll be happy to help out in any way I can." Shizune smiled and the duo soon reached the hospital. It wasn't hard finding Lee, because every nurse knew him as the boy tried training nearly every free minute.

"Naruto? What brings your youthful soul here today? Not some horrible injury I hope?"

Naruto nearly jumped out of his pants when he heard the loud voice behind him. Maito Gai could really give a heart attack.

"Nah, I am fine, just came back from an awesome mission. You here to visit Lee?"

"Correct, my great student is doing his best to overcome his current state and I as his teacher must support him in his effort to get better!"

"Loud." Shizune muttered rubbing her ear.

"Well, I have good news. I came across some awesome medical ninja who came back to the village with us. This is her assistant here and I bet they will get Lee back running around in no time at all."

"Naruto! That is the best news you could've brought me. I can only bless the universe for giving Lee a friend like that. Your actions are most youthful!" Gai turned to Shizune who wanted to jump back for some reason.

"Please, come with me to see my student!" Gai grabbed both Naruto and Shizune by their hands and dashed towards Lee's room at speeds that made his companions scream in protest and fear.

"Lee, smile brightly Naruto found you a doctor!"

"Huh?" Lee looked up. Right now he was sitting on his bed, crouches not far, by the wall as he had no way of moving around without them.

"What gives, Gai-sensei?" Naruto looked up from the ground as the jounin had all but dragged him over the floor. Shizune fared better, but also looked a complete mess.

"Ah, sorry, I just had to get you to Lee as soon as possible."

"Well I prefer to use my own two feet, thank you very much. Damn, now I know how a rag feels when it is used to mop up the floor."

"Is he your friend, Naruto?" Shizune pointed at Lee, while trying to stand straight.

"Yes, that is Lee."

"He is my most prized student." Gai said proudly.

"I can see that." Shizune looked between Gai and Lee. The student clearly took after the master in more ways than one.

"I'll take a look then. I should be able to give my master the full story when she gets here. Turn around and let me have a look." Shizune began inspecting Lee, who without any hesitation allowed her to work. He felt the sensation of a medical jutsu scanning him but it felt far more refined than those that were used on him earlier by local medics.

"Naruto, who is that doctor you talked about by the way?" Gai turned to the blonde genin and Lee also listened carefully.

"She and pervy sage used to be teammates. Her name is Tsunade and she is …. "

"Lady Tsunade? You brought lady Tsuande herself to help Lee?! Naruto, your youthfulness can be matched by so very few!"

"Stop yelling, I need to concentrate, this is a hospital. I know you are worried, but keep quiet while I work!" Shizune finally lost her temper and her angry face alone made Gai and Naruto back up against the wall.

"S-sorry." Gai sweated, while Naruto hoped that Shizune didn't have any of those poisonous needles with her.

"I'll just … leave you to … do the …... healing stuff. Bye Lee!" Naruto took his moment to jump out of the window escaping Shizune's ire. Tsunade's assistant was a very calm, collected individual who preferred to solve conflicts by finding a compromise, but there was a limit to her patience as well and when Shizune was angry she was scary, incredibly scary.

"Well, Lee should be fine, better go find my team." Naruto grinned. Unfortunately he had no idea where they were right now, so he decided to just check the usual places they met, so Naruto marched off humming a happy tune.

…

"Quite a story." Hiruzen lighted his pipe once more earning an irritated look from Tsunade. "You fight with Orochimaru was unexpected, I didn't think he would have any reason to seek you out, Tsunade, but I've been wrong before. What is more important is the reason he came out into the open again. Appears the he is getting desperate. Uchiha Sasuke is currently nearly impossible to reach and your refusal to heal his other potential body puts Orochimaru into a very tricky situation. I do believe that he is running out of time before he will have to go through another soul transfer ritual."

"It means he will act soon." Jiraiya pointed out.

"He might." Hiruzen nodded. "But he will not act so soon after your encounter. He will take time until we are not as alert of his actions. Still, Jiraiya, try to use your network to monitor all activity around, I don't want any surprises."

"No problem, but I will need to leave for a while to meet some people personally."

"Do what you must. Now Tsunade, about your role."

"Me becoming hokage, right? Are you sure that I am your only option?"

"My best option." Hiruzen specified and looked straight in the eyes of his former student. "The village needs someone like you, someone they can turn to for inspiration and example."

"Example, hardly, sensei."

"Tsunade, very few know personal details about your past. For most you are a symbol of a perfect shinobi and your skills as a medical ninja only add to your image of protector."

"So my image is the key, not who I actually am?"

"We are ninjas, deception is our way and why would you of all people deny wearing a mask, you after all wearing one right now?"

"Hmm, you always knew how to talk, Sarutobi sensei."

"A skill that can be trained like any other. I of course can not name you the fifth hokage right away. The village has to get used to the idea of your return and you will require some preparing for the title and the responsibility. Don't think that I will just dump everything on you and retire."

"You'd better not." Tsuande narrowed her eyes, but that only made Hiruzen laugh. Perhaps he was old, but not old enough for his students to intimidate him.

"Fine first of all you need to familiarize with the ninjas we currently have available and considering the situation with Uchiha Sasuke, pay special attention to the younger generation in his age group. With Orochimaru lurking around they all might end up in the crossfire and after your story Naruto can also be target, simply because pissed Orochimaru off."

"Oh yeah, he was awesome doing that." Jiraiya laughed, though others didn't feel as cheerful.

….

"Damn it, how can it be so hard to find my own team?" Naruto's good mood disappeared rather quickly when his search for his teammates didn't go as smoothly as he had hoped. He looked everywhere, but found nobody. He eventually ended up at the same training ground where Kakashi gave them their bell test, but the only familiar thing he found were the training posts. Naruto chuckled remembering how Kakashi tied him up to the middle one, though back then it hardly felt as a laughing matter.

"Well, since I can't find my team and since I am here I might as well train." Naruto grinned. That training post had this coming for a long time. Naruto raised his hand feeling that familiar sensation of chakra gathering. A blue orb of spinning chakra appeared, quickly gaining power. Still the process was far from a nearly instant rasengan Jiraiya could pull off. Naruto required time to power it up, while adding chakra. Trying to use the massive amount from the beginning made the rasengan loose shape, but still even with this much slower method Naruto could create a full powered rasengan. Once done Naruto ran forward as he struggled to maintain the jutsu. With a roar he slammed the sphere of spinning chakra into the training post and watched it rip the thing to shreds, until finally what remained of the training post was pulled out of the ground and launched forward.

"Huh?" Naruto despite all the noise saw someone yelp in fear and then he saw a shadow dive out of the way of the damaged training post that went through the nearby bushes and then smashed against a tall tree nearly tearing it down.

"Hey, who are you and what are … Hinata?" Naruto ran over to the figure that narrowly avoided getting hit by the post. Hinata was just getting up, being a bit shaken up after her ordeal.

"N-Naruto-kun?" the girl turned red at being found out. Her mind was racing, she was trying to think of something to say or something to do, but got into some kind of stupor.

"Err, sorry about that, I didn't know anyone was around. What are you doing here?" Naruto asked.

"I …. I was training by the river and …..h-heard a noise. I decided to ….. investigate and then ….. " Hinata looked back at the remains of the training post wondering what power was unleashed upon it to cause such damage. The training posts were made of very hard wood and could withstand quite a bit of punishment.

"Oh, the river, that brings back memories." Naruto shivered slightly remembering being launched in that river by Kakashi's prank of a jutsu. It was incredibly humiliating.

"I … I am sorry if I ruined your …. training." Hinata looked away.

"Ruined, no, not at all. I just didn't think that someone was nearby. Toero once said I need to be more aware of things around me, I guess this counts. Still need to perfect the jutsu, I still can't use it properly."

"You mean that was incomplete?" Hinata was so surprised that she actually forgot to stutter. Sheonce more nervously glanced at the remains of a training post and didn't want to think what that jutsu could do to a person.

"Umm, it does what it has to do, but I take too much time to power it up properly."

"Power a jutsu up?" Hinata looked a bit confused by that.

"Well yeah. Look here." Naruto began forming another rasengan. "I make the shape and spin the chakra in every direction. Then I just keep adding chakra until it reaches a point when it is ready and then I just slam it into my enemy." Naruto released the jutsu slowly allowing the chakra to disappear instead of blowing up in his face when he failed to contain it. "I just have to do all that almost instantly."

"That seems v-very complicated." Hinata was almost sorry to see the sphere of chakra disappear. Perhaps it was deadly and powerful, but it had some sort of an appeal for her.

"You bet, it took forever to even get it this far. Spinning chakra alone takes so much concentration."

"Spinning chakra, I see." Hinata nodded, but it was clear she was in deep thought about something. She actually compared the rasengan with the kaiten. Both were based on the ability to spin chakra, but kaiten used that chakra motion to move chakra only in one direction while rasengan moved chakra in every way imaginable. If there was a way to combine the two ideas into one jutsu, the results could be beyond impressive.

"Hey Hinata, you spaced out."

"Oh s-sorry Naruto-kun. I-I didn't realize."

"It is alright. What were you thinking about?"

"Umm ….. about training. I …. I am trying to improve my taijutsu."

"Oh right, your family style. Hurts a lot when you guys actually hit."

"Y-yes, it is true. I …. I was just ….. I had an idea about your jutsu."

"Hmm? An idea, what kind of ….. " Naruto's stomach chose exactly that moment to growl demanding to be filled with food.

"On the other hand, lets talk about it over a nice bowl of Ichiraku's ramen, I got paid for a mission today."

"N-Naruto-kun, you shouldn't and …. " Actually Hinata was both thrilled and scared at the idea of eating with Naruto and her face began to redden up again.

"Consider this my way of saying sorry for nearly hitting you by a training post." Naruto waved her protests of and the girl had no choice but to agree. Besides, she was also a bit hungry and a nice warm meal sounded quite appealing right now.


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Among the various ninja clans and minor ninja families of Konoha the Hyuga clan held the position of the most powerful one. They were not only the largest clan, but they also had a well known and powerful bloodline and their own unique fighting style that was designed to take advantage of the abilities provided by the Byakugan. The aim to preserve that bloodline made the members of the Hyuga clan strict when it came to upholding tradition. It was hard to introduce that clan to innovations in ninja arts and in purely social questions.

That clan was considered nobility and maintained that image in the eyes of the village population. Some could be considered lucky to be born into such a clan, especially in the main family, but Hinata never thought that way. She didn't like strict traditions of the Hyuga clan. But since her father paid little attention to her development she had more freedom in her choices and preferred to use it fully to improve in a way she thought right. Her character, her soft and gentle nature made her stand out among the members of the Hyuga clan, traditional methods didn't work that well for her, but as she slowly steered away from the, she found out that she could achieve much by trusting herself. Neji was right, she was different and had to become strong in a different way. Even the ultimate defence, the kaiten technique didn't suit her well. It relied more on power than any kind of control, but she needed a different method, something else, something that would take advantage of her strong traits.

"Your meal, enjoy." The old ramen chef placed two bowl in front of his customers and went back to work knowing that Naruto would never be satisfied by just one bowl of his favourite dish.

"Oh yeah, this looks good!" Naruto grinned as he took a pair of chopsticks. Hinata followed his example. Ramen was never served in the Hyuga clan, it was considered a dish for commoners, but the delicious smell easily convinced Hinata to forget about that. Besides, when it came to ramen Naruto was an expert and if he said this place was the best, who was she to argue.

"That hit the spot. Keep them coming, old man!" Naruto lowered the bowl after gulping down the broth. Hinata blinked looking at her own bowl. She ate in a slow pace, enjoying the flavour of the soup and the texture of the noodles, but Naruto practically inhaled his meal.

"Wait a couple of minutes, you go through ramen faster than I can cook it."

"Sure, no problem." Naruto rubbed the back of his head and turned to Hinata. "Sorry, I just missed eating here."

"You are r-right, this ramen is t-truly exceptional."

"You bet it is. So, what about that technique you spoke of?"

"Oh t-that. I just ... maybe ... I could use that c-chakra motion you use to ... create a jutsu for myself?"

"You mean chakra rotation. Sure, I can show you that." Naruto seemed to be in deep thought.

"I ... I can t-try and help you f-finsh your jutsu."

"You can? How? That would be awesome!"

"Umm ... well, I have Hyuga caln t-training, we know ... how t-to gather and use c-chakra with our hands. My Byakugan c-could also help." Hinata managed to say feeling how her cheeks began to turn red again, so she turned back to ramen.

"Yeah, you guys are very good at that stuff. Alright, this will be like a trade, you help me, I help you. Great idea Hinata!"

"T-thank you." The girl suddenly became very interested in the noodles in the bowl in front of her.

"Then we should just decide on a time to meet and train." Naruto smiled.

"Enjoy." Naruto saw another bowl appear in front of him and cheered.

"Naruto! I thought we'd find you here stuffing your face."

"Huh?" Naruto turned around after he swallowed some broth. "Sakura, Sasuke, I've been looking for you all day and where is Kakashi-sensei?"

"We had a D-rank mission on the outskirts of the village. Kakashi said something about his private business and disappeared like he always does." Sasuke explained with an annoyed look. They were hired to chop wood for a man, who looked perfectly capable of doing that himself. Still, Sasuke managed to practice a bit, chopping the wood with his katana instead of an axe.

"Oh, that's why I couldn't find you." Naruto nodded. "At least Hinata here kept me company. I decided to treat her to some ramen."

"Good evening, Uchiha-san, Haruno-san." Hinata said politely.

"You? Since when are you mannered enough to treat a girl to a meal?" Sakura asked in confusion.

"Well, since I nearly slammed a training post into her ... "

"Figures." Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Might as well eat too, I am in no mood to go anywhere else." Sasuke took a seat next to Naruto and ordered a bowl of pork ramen.

"Ramen?" Sakura wasn't a fan of this particular dish.

"Nobody is forcing you to stay, Sakura." Sasuke said, but the girl instead took a seat next to him, much to his annoyance. With his darn luck she would boast about it later as if they were on a date.

"So, how was your mission with the sannin?" Sasuke asked, showing an unusual amount of interest.

"It was tough, we did great, brought the old lady doctor back, I learned a new awesome jutsu, well I still need to perfect it, but Hinata here agreed to help."

"You aren't just making a girl help you?" Sakura narrowed her eyes.

"N-no, Naruto-kun will also be h-helping me with my technique."

"Hn. Listen, Naruto, can you later show me the shadow clone jutsu?" Sasuke spoke in a voice the betrayed him being uncomfortable with that question. Naruto nearly chocked on his ramen and it took him a few moments to stop coughing.

"Seriously?"

"Kakashi said you can, but that I have to convince you."

"Oh, this better be good, teme. Convince me to share my techniques."

"Naruto, be polite, Sasuke-kun is showing team spirit." Sakura defended her crush who had an urge to slam his head against the counter. He really didn't need her comments right now. At least she was improving as a ninja with Kakashi's help.

"Umm ... sorry to interfere ... but, maybe you have a t-technique Naruto-kun could use?" Hinata offered.

"Hey, that's right, Hinata, he does."

"Just don't ask about chidori, dobe, Kakashi put heavy restriction on that one, including not teaching it to anyone."

"Pfft, not that thing. I mean your fireball technique."

"Why would you want that one?" Sasuke asked.

"Remember back when we fought Gaara. You used it to ignite the oil the toad boss made. I could use that you know, because I can't rely on you being around."

"Hmm." Sasuke rubbed his chin. "Deal. We start tomorrow, before team practice."

"Great. Oh, Hinata, when will you be free for training?"

"Umm, maybe the s-same time as ... t-today?"

"Sure thing! How cool is that, my day tomorrow is all planned out already." Naruto grinned.

...

"Well, well? Will my student be alright? Can you fix him Tsunade-sama?" Gai was moving around Lee and Tsunade driving the female sannin crazy. Shizune who already had the pleasure of coping with Maito Gai just stood in the corner trying not to laugh at her master's misfortune.

"First of all, shut up." Tsunade spoke calmly, but her voice held notes that made Gai pale. She then turned to Lee.

"Alright kid, you are a ninja, so I won't make into a soap opera and will just tell you how it is. You are messed up, very messed up. There are bits of bone in your spinal cord and that is a tricky type of injury. I personally am not surprised that the medics here didn't even try to fix it, such cases are beyond any normal medical ninja."

"But you are not some everyday medical ninja, lady Tsunade." Lee looked at her with hope.

"Damn right." Tsunade nodded. "But even I have my limits. Some injuries are just too severe to try and heal. Luckily you are not such a case."

"You mean, you can fix it?" Lee asked.

"I can try and fix it but there is problem. You see, you will require a surgery, a delicate one at that. I can perform the procedure, but I can't offer you more than 60% success chance."

"And if it fails?"

"Three possibilities. First is that everything stays the same, no improvement. Second is that you get paralyzed from waist down. Finally there is a small chance of you not pulling through, but you seem like a tough genin, so I am not worried about that."

"Lee." Gai clearly hoped for something that didn't involve such a choice for his student.

"It is alright if you want to think over this, after all … "

"It is alright, lady Tsunade." Lee shook his head. "I don't really need the time to think about it, I had done plenty of thinking lately and already decided that being a ninja is the only way to achieve my dream. Besides, as a ninja I will be facing far worse odds in the future. I agree to the operation."

"Lee, that decision is most youthful, I am proud of you." Gai said, but not in his usual cheery way.

"Well, then there is nothing else left to say. I will go prepare for your surgery and you should too. The surgery will start tomorrow in the morning. See you then, kid."

"Thank you, lady Tsunade, I am glad Naruto brought you to the village and not just because you offered me a chance of recovery."

"You know what surprises me most about Naruto?" Tsunade seemed to address not only Lee, but everyone in the room. "Despite him being a knucklehead, he is a good judge of character. The way he talked about you, made me think that you are worth doing my best. He was right again." Tsunade smiled and walked out of the room followed by Shizune.

...

Getting up early in the morning was a tough task for Naruto, he liked to sleep in, but one could hardly do that with an alarm clock ringing next to your head. So the blonde genin had no other choice but to get up, get dressed, gulp down some simple breakfast and race off towards the usual meeting spot of his team. He looked at the sky that had just begun to get bright as the sun was getting up.

"Hey teme." Naruto greeted his teammate who groaned over that nickname if it could be called that way.

"Tsk, at least you are not late, more than what I can say about Kakashi."

"Don't forget, I know how annoying it is to wait for him and I am not going to force others to wait for me if I can help it."

"Good." Sasuke nodded. "We should begin, Sakura will be here in two hours for our usual team meeting and knowing Kakashi he will get here even later.

"Yeah sure, but before we start I have something to tell you. I didn't want to speak about it yesterday with Sakuran and Hinata around." Naruto suddenly lost his usual goofy smile and looked dead serious. That was reason enough for Sasuke to listen carefully.

"I ran into you asshole of a brother during the mission." Even though Sasuke didn't move, his whole body visibly tensed up and for a moment he sharingan came to life. He took a deep breath calming down and looked at Naruto.

"Tell me everything."

"Well, he was travelling with another guy, one of the swordsmen of the mist, like Zabuza and he had a huge sword, believe me. The two bastards chased me around the local town, I barely managed to hold out until pervy sage came. One thing for sure, they were not willing to get into a fight with him."

"Why did they chase you, a simple genin?" Sasuke asked. The motives of his brother were no less important than his skills.

"Take a wild guess, teme, I thought you were supposed to be smart." Naruto pointed at his stomach and Sasuke's eyes widened in realisation.

"Anything else?"

" Well, they were wearing identical cloaks, black with red clouds, like some sort of uniform. Pervy sage says he will investigate that, but he asked me not to tell anyone. Still that was your brother, I figured you have a right to know."

"Thanks." Sasuke nodded. His mind was trying to sort through information and he already made some conclusions. First of all if Itachi was after Naruto, then it meant that being around the dobe gave him the best chances of running into his older brother. It was far better to know where one person would eventually be, than trying to trail him in any way. It also proved that Itachi had backup, powerful backup and if Itachi indeed was now part of some sort of organized group, then it could mean that there were more strong foes. All that clearly meant that Sasuke would not be able to handle the task of taking down his brother alone.

"So, will we be training or what?" Naruto asked after he was tired of Sasuke just standing there thinking. He figured Sasuke would need some time to accept the information, but just standing was boring.

"Yes, we must get stronger." Sasuke agreed. "What can you tell me about your shadow clone technique."

"I suppose you already know the seal, no need for sharingan to copy this, eh?" Naruto demonstrated the cross shaped seal Sasuke knew about already, but somehow Kakashi advised Sasuke against trying the jutsu out without hearing out Naruto.

"Yes, that much I know, but there must be more."

"You bet, it isn't a forbidden jutsu just because it sounds badass. Listen, first of all you need to flare chakra from your whole body, because you want to make a copy of yourself. But I bet you will have little problem with that, even I with my low chakra control could do that even before I became genin. I warn you, it takes a huge amount of chakra."

"I see."

"Yeah, I have more chakra than I know what to do with, for known reasons. You don't have such a luxury, but if Kakashi says you can learn the jutsu, I guess you have enough to handle several clones."

"Tsk, you can make a small army."

"Pervy sage explains that not only I have more chakra than any normal person, my chakra is also far more potent, but harder to control. I also restore chakra far quicker, so for me it is possible. Listen, lets just see you make one clone to get the feel of the jutsu. You know your limits better than I do."

"Hn, sounds good." Sasuke agreed and made the seal. He felt the chakra in his whole body and concentrated in making a single copy of himself.

"Shadow clone jutsu."

"Awesome." Naruto grinned when he saw another identical Sasuke appear.

"Yep, solid." Sasuke poked his clone in the chest.

"Hn." The clone didn't seem amused and that made Naruto laugh. Sasuke was getting a taste of his own attitude. So it was no surprise that Sasuke decided to dispel the clone instead of experimenting with him. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked at Naruto. One clone cost him a good portion of his chakra. Creating more than ten would probably leave him dry. After experiencing the chakra cost of the shadow clone jutsu Sasuke for the first time realized how much more energy and stamina his teammate had and that even without using the chakra of the fox. Controlling such power in a refined way seemed like an impossible task, so no wonder Naruto preferred massive attacks like filling the area with clones or summoning a huge toad.

"Fine you got what you wanted, now my turn."

"Tsk, alright."

….

"Hey, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura waved skipping over to her crush, who raised his hand in a silent greeting.

"Hi, Sakura-chan." Sakura turned her head when she heard the voice and saw Naruto standing in the middle of the river not far from the bridge they were on.

"Naruto, what are you doing there?" Sakura asked.

"Avoiding causing more damage than he already did." Sasuke explained and pointed at the spot on the shore. There was an area that looked like it suffered from forest fire. The ground and a few trees were now reduced to blackened and burned versions of themselves if not worse.

"That was caused by the smallest fireball he can make without overloading the jutsu. I didn't even know you can overload the fireball jutsu with chakra so much that it explodes in your face." Sasuke's voice held both tones of annoyance and surprise.

"Naruto, you just had to overdo it, didn't you?"

"Sorry, Sakura-chan." Naruto jumped onto the bridge and grinned.

"Relax, he can't help it." Sasuke sighed.

"Hmm, I see you don't waste time, that is good." The genin turned around and released a collective groan when they saw Toero approach.

"Kakashi-sensei on a mission again?" Sakura asked with misery evident in her voice.

"No, but he will be busy for the rest of the day. The third Hokage plans the jounin instructors to give full reports on the progress of the genin teams during the situation when chunin are forced to keep you in check. "

"Whatever, mission or training?"

"Mission. I already took it, so we won't have to bother the hokage. Since you three seem to improve I decided on something less resembling a mind numbing manual labor."

"Whoah, that has got to be the first nice thing we heard from you, or at least the closest to that." Naruto pointed out. Toero didn't dignify Naruto's comment with a response.

"An academy instructor ….. " Toero glanced at the scroll. " ….. Umino Iruka, requested a genin team for a lecture concerning the duties and obligations of lower rank ninjas."

"Iruka-sensei? Awesome." Naruto grinned.

"Academy, ughh." Sakura frowned.

"We are to babysit academy brats?" Sasuke said in an irritated tone.

"Uchiha, I hope you do realize, that from my point of view, supervising your team is not that much different."

"Whatever, lets just get this over with."


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35

The ninja academy had one primary aim, to prepare the future ninjas for their hard and very often dangerous job. It wasn't that much aimed towards developing the skills, but more to create a strong basis for future growth, giving the young ninjas adequate theoretical knowledge, basic fighting skills and at least some level of psychological preparation. Of course for many that wasn't enough so there was a reason why so few actually became genin. Only members of the ninja clans had enough preparation to not worry about their future. They received additional tutoring or help from their family members and usually came with their clan unique techniques and skills under their belt. Others had only their talents and determination to rely on, though sometimes that proved even of an asset than any kind of special tutoring.

"Hey, Iruka-sensei!" the voice was so familiar that Iruka didn't even have to look to see who it was. Few ninjas were so loud and Iruka shook his head with a laugh turning towards his now former student who approached along with his teammates. It was amazing how time changed things. When Iruka declared that Naruto would be teamed up with Sakura and Sasuke the reactions were mixed to say the least, but now all three looked like a very strong team. The members bonded despite their differences, especially true when Naruto and Sasuke were concerned, but even Sakura seemed to accept her loud and obnoxious teammate.

"Naruto ... I sort of expected they would send your team. I kept an eye on your development and I must say you are becoming quite a ninja."

"Heh, I told you I was awesome, sensei." Naruto grinned.

"Sure, sure. Sasuke, Sakura, I am glad to see you too and in perfect health."

"Yeah, we are doing great." Sakura smiled.

"Hn." Sasuke shrugged, but he clearly agreed. Toero watched the exchange with a neutral expression, but didn't interfere allowing the teacher and his students to catch up with news. He didn't like wasting time though and cleared his throat making Iruka turn to him.

"We have a task to carry out, perhaps we could get onto it?"

"Ahh, of course." Iruka nodded. "Toero-san, right?"

"Correct."

"Well, all that is required is for the genin to answer some questions asked by the students about obligations and duties of a real ninja. I felt they would be more willing to accept information from someone closer to their age group."

"You heard what your task is? Get to it."

"I'll show they way to the classroom." Iruka offered.

"Sensei, we've learned here, I bet any of us can find our way with our eyes closed." Sakura pointed out to her former teacher who had to agree with that.

"I guess, but I still have to introduce you, so follow me oh and Naruto, please, don't show off."

"Since when do I show off, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked. "What?"

Naruto saw that everyone including Toero were giving him blank looks.

"Uzumaki, just follow instructions." Toero said and kept walking.

...

"So today a group of genin will answer your questions about the duties of a real ninja. Hokage agreed with my request and sent genin squad seven to be here today." Iruka decided to first prepare the class before calling the genin into the class.

The class just couldn't stay quiet after that and the exited talks only intensified when three genin walked inside followed by someone whose presence sent shivers down the spines of some students.

"Boss!"

"Oh no." Sakura rubbed her face. That brat just had to be in this class. Sure thing there he was, sitting between his two friends who called themselves the Konohamaru Corps. The last time she ran into this bunch they nearly ended up fighting the sand siblings and then not so long ago the brat nearly hit her with a shuriken. Sure it was Toero who used her as a human shield before catching the shuriken, but she blamed the brat for that.

"Oh, hey Konohamaru, funny running into you here!" Naruto grinned. Sasuke sighed realizing that Toero found another way to torment them, this time by making them spend time in a presence of little brats that had 'annoying' written all over them. Sasuke didn't have Kiba's nose, but even her smelled that some of the girls already used perfume and remembered Toero's lecture about that when he felt Sakura use one. That day he explained that it was better to act like dirt, smell like dirt and look like dirt, because then your enemy might mistake you for dirt and leave you alone. That followed by him forcing Sakura to use that knowledge and Sasuke had to admit that by the end of the day Sakura did resemble a moving pile of dirt, as she was covered in leaves and mud and who knows what. Of course that was taking it a bit too far, but Sasuke somehow suspected that the aim was not so much to teach Sakura about the proper way to conceal her presence than about knocking out her habit of using perfume, or smelly shampoos or anything else. Naturally Sakura never came to team meeting smelling like a batch of flowers and somehow to her surprise that earned her more approval from Sasuke than anything else she tried before.

"Iruka-sensei, those are genin, seriously? I mean the one with the sword, fine, I can believe it, but a stupid girly girl and an orange idiot?"

Iruka groaned. These things never changed and the last thing he wanted was for his students to antagonize his former students. There were always loudmouths like that.

"Do you have a death wish?"

Surprisingly Iruka heard Hanabi speak out. The youngest daughter of the head of the Hyuga clan mostly kept quiet during lesson, but for reason completely different from her older sister. If Hinata was shy than Hanabi had a healthy amount of arrogance. In most cases she considered those around beneath her. Iruka had to admit that the girl despite her young age had a good amount of skill to back up such arrogance and she was quite aggressive during the spars. Still Iruka didn't like her overwhelming pride at being a Hyuga.

"Huh?"

"I said, do you have a death wish? You are insulting people that can kill you without breaking a sweat, at least two of them can. I've been at the chunin exam finals and I've seen what they are capable of."

"For once I agree with her, don't insult the boss!" Konohamaru jumped up in his seat. Iruka couldn't remember the last time Konohamaru and Hanabi agreed on anything.

"Oh, shut up!" Sasuke growled making the whole class go silent. "You are giving me a headache. Listen, Iruka-sensei asked us to come and talk to you, but so far it was a complete waste of our time. You might not realize but we are active ninjas and we have better things to do than to sit here and listen to a bunch of brats yelling."

"Hmm, he can be intimidating." Iruka nodded. That part about Sasuke was always present, but he never so actively directed his ire at the people in front of him.

"Better things to do? Like what?" Moegi spoke for the first time.

"Like not being here." Sasuke grumbled.

"What Sasuke-kun means is that we have to train and perform mission assigned by the hokage." Sakura spoke. Naruto who wasn't that good at explaining stuff sat down on Iruka's desk, while Sasuke leaned on the wall.

"What kind of missions?"

"It depends on the rank. Some are pretty easy, but some are tougher and sometimes mission end up more dangerous than expected."

"Oh yeah, like when Zabuza showed up. Mean bastard, but not all that bad actually and Haku turned out to be nice too." Naruto grinned.

"You ran into other ninjas? That is awesome boss, did you fight, did you beat them?" Konohamaru was practically jumping in his seat.

"Well, yeah, sort of."

"Awesome. What happened to those ninjas?"

"They are dead." Sasuke said coldly, his short reply once more made the class go quiet. "What, you expected that we fought, then shook our hands and went separate ways? It doesn't work that way generally."

"Logical, they were enemies, they are now dead, that is what you do to enemies." Hanabi shrugged.

"Stay silent, Hyuga. Talking about taking a life and actually doing it are different things. Even to see someone die is not the same as actually killing. Do not speak of it so easily, you have no right to speak about it." Sasuke glared and Hanabi somehow seemed to get smaller under his gaze. She knew better than to speak against this genin, she remembered the amount of damage he could do when back at the finals he sank his hand into the arena wall using some weird lightning jutsu. As for his blonde teammate, he looked strange for a ninja, but he pummeled her cousin into the ground with such power that she was surprised that Neji actually survived. He looked all cheery and goofy now, but back then he radiated such rage and animalistic fury that he scared her more than anything she ever saw or felt. Back then he was anger given flesh.

"You wanted your students to hear about the darker side of our job?" Toero turned to Iruka.

"Better if some broke here than in the middle of a battle." Iruka replied. He cared for every one of his students, he wanted to prepare them as much as he wanted and that not always meant that he had to be caring, sometimes he had to be strict, at times even cruel to teach them the lesson some were unwilling to learn.

Toero turned away, thinking. To care sometimes meant to cause pain in order to prevent even worse pain. A lesser of two evils, a hardest choice to make.

…

"Gai-sensei, I am worried too, but please, take a seat. You pacing back and forth isn't helping anyone." Tenten got sick of watching her sensei move around. She and Neji asked for a day off to be here today, waiting for Lee's surgery to end. So far it was going for three hours already.

"I am sorry, you are right, I'll take a seat." Gai sat down next to Neji, but couldn't sit still even for a little bit as he kept shifting and trying to take a more comfortable position, all the while not taking his eyes off the pair of large doors that read 'surgery'.

"Neji, maybe you can use your byakugan to see how our youthful teammate is doing?" Gai turned to Neji.

"No. I will not use my clan bloodline in such a manner. I will also not interfere in any way with the procedure, even by observing the process."

"Ughh." Gai turned away and began biting his nails.

"I wonder how long they will still be there." Tenten sighed. She was also nervous, constantly checking the pockets of her chunin vest if everything was in order and so on.

"They will be there as long as it takes, no more no less."

"How can you act so calm?" Tenten looked at Neji.

"I can control my emotions, that is what a ninja should be able to do."

"You sure seemed pissed during your fight at the finals."

"That was ... I failed to control my emotions back then. Uzumaki Naruto is a master of provocation."

"Sure he is." Tenten smirked. "You think Lee will be alright?"

"He is physically and spiritually strong and he is treated by one of the best medical ninjas you can find, so his chances are as high as they can get. I sincerely hope he will recover."

"Oh my, Neji, is almost sounded as if you care."

"If our team won't come back together, then I eventually will murder the blonde Yamanaka. I am irritated by her constant gossip and obsession over her looks. I can get along with her two teammates, but I feel sorry for them."

"Oh come on Neji, don't tell me that the prodigy of a Hyuga clan can't handle being around a girl."

"You are a girl, I can be around you just fine. But the Yamanaka is just so incredibly annoying and her mind is always somewhere high in the clouds. The only reason why I don't speak up against her, is because Shikamaru-san explained that it was more trouble than it was worth."

"And you actually respect his opinion?" Tenten asked. The conversation made their minds trail off, for a moment making them forget about the surgery and their teammate.

"First of all like you he outranks me. Then he also proved to be able to analyze information and come up with the best possible solutions, I can respect such a skill, especially when it comes to a squad leader."

"Good to hear. I actually ... "

"They are coming!" Gai jumped up and just as he did the doors opened and they saw Lee being rolled out on a gurney. He was unconscious and pale, but that was to be expected.

"Relax, your student will be fine, the surgery went surprisingly smoothly. He will need time to restore his physical prowess, but at least now he will be able to do."

"YES. THE POWER OF YOUTH OVERCOMES ALL!" Gai laughed and then doubled in pain as Tsunade rammed her fist into his gut.

"DON'T YELL, THIS IS A HOSPITAL!"

"Umm, lady Tsunade, you are yelling too." Tenten pointed out feeling awkward and nervous while speaking to such a famous kuonichi.

"Huh? Oh yes, I guess I was a bit too loud. Ahem. Anyway as I said your teammate will have a full recovery, but I want to keep him under watch for today so no visiting yet."

"Oh, that's a relief." Tenten smiled. She couldn't wait to see Lee after he received the good news. Knowing him he would be training in a few days already."

"This calls for a celebration. My youthful students, I say we go and eat honouring our most youthful teammate and if I won't eat more than you two combined I will do my best to climb the hokage monument in under five minutes!"

"Yeah, sure, you do that." Tsunade waved and walked off. "Man, what a weirdo."

...

It turned out that the academy mission had one advantage after all. They didn't have to go and report about it being completed. Instead Iruka himself would give the report to the hokage, explaining how the presence of a genin squad benefited his students. Only after that the payment would be transferred to the genin bank accounts.

"What now, Toero-san?" Sakura asked as the group walked towards their usual training field. Naruto now really hoped that he would be in good enough shape to train later with Hinata, but was smart enough to not voice his concern to Toero who without a doubt would just tell him that it wasn't his problem.

"We will develop our skills. In order to improve one must not also know his own strong points, but also his weaknesses. For a while we've been working to overcome the most important of them, lack of patience, self control, precision and in Sakura's case endurance. The combinations of your strengths and weaknesses determines your fighting style and your role on the field of battle. Knowing your weaknesses is the first thing you must know and learn to overcome."

"Fine, you tell us your weaknesses then?" Naruto turned to Toero.

"A fair request. My fighting method is based around my abilities to manipulate my bone structure. Mostly it means that I can create stabbing weapons to boost the lethality of my strikes. My bones are denser then that of a regular human and I heal faster from flesh wounds unless my organs are damaged. This gives me an advantage in close quarters, but leaves me vulnerable when an enemy prefers to stay at distance. For that reason I mastered the use of a bow, combining it with my abilities in order to provide arrows. Still I prefer to rely on stealth and element of surprise to finish the fight before it even starts. Now Uchiha, your turn. What are your weaknesses, what are your limitations?"

Sasuke frowned. He never tried thinking of his weaknesses, he never actually admitted that he had them, but telling Toero that was just asking for another dose of humiliation. Besided, he had to have weaknesses.

"Hmm, I lack an ability to fight against multiple opponents, especially if they are faster than I am. My most powerful techniques are deadly, but chakra consuming, every miss barely results in damage to myself. My sharingan is my greatest asset, but it has it's limitations, especially if someone limits my field of vision."

"Yeah, that is why Zabuza used the hidden mist technique against Kakashi sensei." Sakura remembered.

"Correct and that is why I tried teaching you to rely on your other senses." Toero said and Sasuke nodded, once more remembering how hard it was for him to stop relying on his eyes during those long and humiliating training sessions.

"Haruno."

"Umm, well as you said, I lacked stamina. I mean if compared to Naruto or Sasuke I still do, but it got better, I guess. I also had no clear purpose in the team, so Kakashi helped me with some genjutsu training and some other tips I might need. You helped with some taijutsu techniques to quickly get away from the enemy or to quickly take him out of action. Those methods don't rely on me outlasting, but more on outmanoeuvring my enemy."

"Good. Uzumaki."

"Fine, lets see. My chakra control is horrible. Well, I guess it was abysmal before, now, just horrible." Naruto grinned. "My techniques are well, they are very loud and huge and usually draw tons of attention. I can be stealthy, but once I go all out, you can be sure there will lots of commotion. I guess I am also not that good with books and that stuff. I am more of learn by doing guy." The group finally reached the training ground.

"You are also impatient and quick to jump to conclusions, something that you struggled to improve with. Anyway, our limitation can only be countered to a certain degree, but we must know how to act despite that. So today we will see, how well you learned to apply your new knowledge." Toero suddenly jumped back, creating distance between himself and the genin.

"Hey, what is going on?" Naruto demanded.

"If you will use all that you learned so far, I will not stand a chance. If you go back to the way you used to be, I will send all three of you to the hospital. Do not be afraid to hurt me, for I will not hold back as through pain, blood and injuries we forge our strength." Toero pulled out an arrow out of his arm and prepared his bow.

"Oh, I've waited for this for a long time." Naruto cracked his knuckles.


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36

"Remember Naruto, don't rush into this. If we will fight one on one battles against him, he will wipe the floor with us." Sasuke muttered drawing his sword and taking a basic defensive stance. Sakura slowly took a few steps back to cover her teammates, after all she wasn't a frontline fighter.

"I know, I want to kick that guy's ass, but I don't fancy getting pummelled into the ground. Hmm, lets start. Shadow clone jutsu!"

Several clones appeared in front of the genin, but the next second an arrow flew through the air. IT went straight through one clone and then dug deep into the chest of a clone behind it and only then the clones finally exploded into clouds of smoke, making the genin take an ivoluntary step back.

"That bow, such power." Sasuke scowled and activated the sharingan. Without it the arrow was reduced to a white blur and he wondered how on earth did that girl, Tenten, manage to knock it out of the air back in the forest of death. To hit something moving at such speeds required an amazing amount of skill.

"Damn!" Naruto jumped to the side and went into a roll, when another arrow destroyed one more clone. That was enough reason for Naruto to send them forward.

"Get him!" the clones charged, moving from side to side to make it harder for Toero to hit them, but despite that another clone got an arrow straight through the eye. Still Toero couldn't make arrows without straining his chakra reserves and Naruto could easily give him more targets than he could take out this way, so now that the ranks of the clones were somewhat thinned, Toero placed the bow on his back and slid into a taijutsu stance. The first clone that came close received a kick to the face with enough force to break two ribs before it exploded into smoke.

"Hmm?" Toero took a step back when the world around him began spinning.

"Release!" Toero threw off Sakura's simple, but confusing illusion and flipped back avoiding Sasuke's slash.

"Tsk, he reacts fast." Sasuke scowled and spun around, but just as he prepared to attack Toero again he saw how the archer blocked a punch from a clone, he then grabbed Naruto's replica and threw him straight at Sasuke, knocking the Uchiha down. Luckily the clone disappeared after the impact, or otherwise Sasuke would've been stuck under Naruto's body.

"Take this!" two clones threw the original Naruto at Toero turning the genin into a missile.

"Ghhh." Toero grunted from the impact when he raised his hands in a cross to block Naruto's kick. The force behind it was truly impressive.

"Now!" Naruto kicked away from Toero, flipping in mid air allowing two kunai with explosives tag to fly under him and land right in front of Toero. The next moment there was a huge explosion that seemed to engulf both Toero and the remaining Naruto's clones.

"Heh, I wonder how he liked that?" Naruto landed next to Sasuke and looked back at Sakura who had thrown the two kunai. Suddnely he paled.

"Sakura, he used a substitution!" Naruto yelled, but it seemed to be too late as Toero appeared behind Sakura in a puff of smoke, having replaced himself with one of his arrows. That was another advantage of using them, being white they were easy to spot. The drawback was that using a substitution with such a small object required more chakra and higher degree of control than exchanging with an object of similar size.

"Not this time!" Sakura ducked under a kick that was aimed at her head. She instantly spun around and blocked a punch. Toero strikes were too strong for her to block effectively, so she ducked under another strike and rolled to the side before Toero overwhelmed her.

"Raaghh!" Toero saw how Naruto created two more clones before jumping at him. The clones were dispatched quickly and efficiently, but the real Naruto grabbed Sakura and jumped away.

"Fire style: fireball jutsu!" Sasuke released a large fireball at Toero who seemed like an easy target. Still the archer dropped down, the fire passing over him, though he did feel the uncomfortable heat as the fire moved over him.

"Damn it, this is no good." Naruto and Sakura moved over to Sasuke who scowled. Despite their best efforts Toero seemed to shrug off or easily avoid their attacks without getting even a scratch, while they already supported some bruises.

"I know how each of you fights, so your usual tactics will get you nowhere. I know you strengths and I know your weaknesses, your attacks and moves are easy to predict and thus easy to counter, while you struggle to avoid my quite simple attempts to counter attack. It seems that I have overestimated your progress"

"Shut up, we'll beat you yet!" Naruto yelled trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his leg after he kicked Toero. It felt as if Toero's hands were made of stone.

"I care not for your claims, Uzumaki."

"Then we will prove it. Naruto, Sakura, lets fight if our lives depended on the outcome. Lets show him who we are and what we can do."

"Yes, Sasuke-kun." Sakura nodded.

"I've got your back, teme." Naruto grinned.

...

"You are in a good mood, Tsunade, I trust the surgery went well?" Hiruzen looked up from his paperwork when Tsunade walked in. Shizune left at the hospital to take care of things that didn't require the attention of her master. As for Tsunade herself, she had to prepare for her title of the fifth hokage, something she wasn't all that looking forward to.

"All went perfectly. The genin will recover, with time and proper therapy of course. Now, what do want me to do, but no financial stuff"

"I wouldn't dream of it, Tsunade. To be completely honest, I hoped that your assistant will handle the finances, just to be safe."

"Safe?"

"I would never trust you with money, Tsuande, no offence."

"Right, of course." The medic sighed and sat down on a sofa in Hiruzen's office. She didn't really care about that, actually if her gambling habit saved her from some of the annoying paperwork, than it showed that something good could actually come of it. "Anyway, what have you go for me."

"You should familiarize with our current active ninja roster. Here." Hiruzen threw Tsunade a heap of files and the future hokage began looking through them, starting from the genin. She stopped for a bit on Naruto's file, noticing that it had quite a bit of information left out for obvious reasons.

"Hmm? How interesting. So, Orochimaru continued with experimentation on bloodline transplantation. To think that he achieve such a high measure of success." Tsunade hated Orochimaru, but she was more than capable to admit that he was a strong ninja and the he had talents in many other fields, including genetic research, but lacking any moral limitations."

"You we seen Toero-san's file I gather. I actually wanted to ask you about that, the bloodline transplantation. Why does it seem like such an achievement, Tsunade? I mean Kakashi had the sharingan transplanted in field conditions."

"Pfft and they call you the professor?" Tsunade smirked.

"Questions of medical questions are outside my field of expertise Tsunade, now please, explain, I prefer to be informed."

"Fine. It all depends on the type of bloodline. Some are concentrated around certain organs, like the sharingan, which is an ocular type bloodline which manifests through the eyes. Thus transplantation of an eye will transfer most of what the body needs to use it, provided that the procedure is performed correctly. Anatomically the eye of an Uchiha is not that different from an eye of a regular human. Still, the chakra network that the Uchihas developed around their eyes will still be missing in the one who received an eye. This means that he will lack an ability to control the new abilities the same way as the Uchiha. Kakashi for example lacks the ability to deactivate the sharingan and suffers from chakra draining effect due to the lack of proper chakra network for it to be used. The only option he was left was to cover the eye or keep it closed outside combat."

"Very well, that sounds logical." Hiruzen nodded and Tsunade continued.

"Now, when we talk about a bloodline that manifests itself in the whole skeletal structure we are talking about a completely different level. This Toero, whoever he is, went through a procedure that involved transplantation of massive amounts of bone tissue in order to modify the whole skeleton. The survival rate of such a procedure should be extremely low and the user will have even further limitation in the use of the bloodline should he adapt. Also such a bloodline requires a body well adapted for the use of such an ability and Toero clearly lacks most of what is required. This is why I am impressed that Orochimaru actually managed to make it work somehow."

"I am not entirely sure that it was all Orochimaru's doing, Tsunade. Still, your explanation and theory doesn't contradict what I heard from Toero himself."

"I would like to give that guy a medical checkup in the future. A matter of bloodline transplantation is a field where very little research was done and this ninja is a unique case as his bloodline is not a chakra type like when Orochimaru tried to recreate the mokuton abilities of my grandfather."

"If he agrees, you are welcome to do it."

"Can't you just order him?"

"I can, but I would prefer not to, Tsunade, I don't wish to abuse the trust of that ninja."

"Fine, I'll think this over." Tsunade nodded.

….

"Oh damn!" Naruto flew through the air and smashed against the tree, sliding down with a pained moan. Toero was sure not kidding when he threatened to send them to the hospital. His attacks were fast and precise, requiring the genin to be on constant alert. It also clear that Toero aimed to scatter them in order to make it harder for the genin to make coordinated attacks.

"Fire style: mystical flame flower!" Sasuke began showering Toero with a barrage of fireballs, trying to pin his opponent down, but the archer seemed to dance around them while still approaching. The fire jutsu passed harmlessly and Toero was almost upon the young Uchiha who once more reached for his blade.

"Afraid not." Toero jumped forward grabbing Sasuke's arm and pushing the blade back into the sheath. Sasuke was left completely open and received a knee to his chest, a blow strong enough to knock all air out of the Uchiha's lungs.

"Let him go!" Sakura threw a pair of kunai at Toero's back, but the archer suddenly spun around using Sasuke as a human shield. Suddenly the kunai stopped in mid air and very pulled back, revealing that they had metal strings attached. The attack was a mere distraction as the new position allowed Sasuke to elbow Toero in the side and finally escape his grip. Sakura smirked form her position on a tree branch.

"Fire style: fireball jutsu!" Toero realized that the jutsu came from the direction he never expected such an attack to appear from. Naruto had created a massive fireball that was almost upon Toero.

"Another substitution." Sasuke scowled when he saw the remains of a still burning log. That meant that Toero would attack their most vulnerable teammate. Sasuke quickly pulled out a folded windmill shuriken throwing it forward just as Toero once again appeared behind Sakura. The girl spun around, but then took a step into nothingness, sliding off the branch, revealing the approaching shuriken.

"Of all the … "Naruto cursed when Toero caught the weapons just when the blades were inches away from his face. Still, Sakura who was falling down grabbed the branch just as she was flying buy and flung herself around it, ramming both her feet into Toero's back, pushing him off the branch. She ended up in a crouching position and looked down with a satisfied smirk. Her triumph was short lived though, as Toero flipped in mid air recovering from the blow and threw the large shuriken he was still holding. It sliced right through the tree branch and Sakura began falling down with a terrified scream.

"Got you!" Sasuke appeared snatching his teammate out of mid air before she fell to the ground. Toero who actually landed on his feet was greeted by another group of clones that distracted him long enough for Sasuke to safely lower down Sakura.

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun."

"We are even."

"Aghh!" Toero allowed Naruto to head butt him, but since his skull was also made of far denser bone, Naruto stumbled back seeing double. The impact broke skin on Toero's forehead, but the archer didn't seem to care. Instead he punched Naruto in the gut, went around him and delivered a fast kick to the back of Naruto's head, smashing him into the ground.

"Down!" Toero pinned the blonde genin down with his knee and raised his palm, a bone stake sliding out of it.

"Aghhh!" Toero leaned back covering his eyes when the area was filled with light so bright that it actually burned.

"Naruto, get away!" Sasuke yelled and tackled Toero who was blinded. Sakura was standing not far, eyes closed in order to maintain a much more complex genjutsu, using herself as an epicenter. This particular illusion was tricky as it required direct physical contact to be made prior to it being activated. Basically a small portion of chakra had to charge into the opponent, sort of marking him. Sakura did that when she kicked Toero off the branch, but she never expected him to throw that shuriken at her.

Naruto using the distraction took the moment to roll away and jump up shaking his head to regain focus.

"Ughh!" Sasuke was kicked away and Toero got up, but he was still trapped in an illusion, so he couldn't open his eyes. His opponents clearly had no such problems. First there was a punch to the chest, then to the back and finally a kick to the jaw that sent Toero flying and rolling back.

"Hnn, not bad, Naruto." Sasuke's voice came as Toero heard the footsteps approach. He suddenly leaned back avoiding a kick and tripped Sasuke, forcing him to fall down to one knee.

"I can still hear you, Uchiha." Toero spoke and Sasuke heard him take a deep breath.

"Shit, not that!" Sasuke yelled, but it was too late as Toero detonated one of his modified smoke bombs. Sasuke began coughing uncontrollably while rubbing his eyes that burned from pain. The blast was large enough to reach Sakura who had to break the genjutsu and relocate, while Naruto barely escaped in time. Still Toero wasn't in a hurry to open his eyes. He knew where Sasuke was and delivered a powerful jump kick that threw the Uchiha out of the smoke. The boy sailed through the air, bounced off the ground … and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Toero saw that as he jumped out of the smoke finally opening his eyes and taking a deep breath to fill his lungs with so much needed oxygen.

"A shadow clone, you exchanged techniques." Toero looked around spotting the trio of genin some distance away.

"Tsk, I am not that dumb to speak while you lack sight and are relying on your sense of hearing." Sasuke replied. "We are not nearly done."

"Agreed." Toero nodded and the genin saw how their opponent created a long spear, pulling it out of his knee.

"Whoah!" Naruto saw how Toero landed right in front of them swirling his spear. The attack was so fast that defending from it seemed nearly impossible. Naruto barely avoided the spearhead, but a kick sent him rolling on the ground with a busted lip, while Sakura missed a punch that threw her back against a tree, she slid down holding her eye.

"Tsk!" Sasuke grunted from the effort of blocking the spear with his sword he managed to pull out just in time. Left, right, from above followed by a spin kick, another thrust, a strike from the left. Sasuke slowly retreated, but kept blocking, the two opponents engaged in a bitter fight.

"I can see. I can see your moves!" Sasuke smiled his sharingan spinning as he kept blocking the strikes faster and faster as that attacks intensified.

"Whoah." Naruto got up looking at the duel.

"Incredible." Sakura also watched with wide eyes. But it was clear that Sasuke couldn't last forever. The spear had a superior reach and unlike a regular one, it could easily block Sasuke's slashes the dense bone suffered little damage from the blade. Perhaps given enough time Sasuke would be able to cut through it, but not in this situation. He finally slipped and Toero mercilessly rammed the dull end of his spear into Sasuke's gut and then kicked the sword out his hands. A moment later Sasuke received a strike under the chin so strong that it for a moment lifted him off the ground, somehow not knocking out any of his lower teeth.

"I've had it with you!"

"Huh?" Toero looked up and saw Naruto dropping down like a cannoball holding some strange, but clearly powerful jutsu that resembled a sphere of pure chakra.

"Naruto?" Sasuke gasped blood streaming from his mouth.

"RASENGAN!"

"Ghnnnn!" Toero scowled from the force of impact. He raised his spear just in time to block the attack, but it was so strong that the archer actually slid back, his feet leaving gashes in the ground. To his surprised the jutsu actually drilled through the shaft of his spear until the middle section simple exploded into pieces, but apparently Naruto was at his limit, unable to keep the rasengan balanced any longer and the powerful jutsu exploded. Naruto went spinning through the air and landed face down a small distance away. Toero was even worse as he smashed against the ground so hard that a small cloud of dust raised. He tried getting up, but felt someone grab his hands, pinning them down over his head. Sakura looked down with determination. He could throw her off, but that required time and Sasuke was not giving it to him.

"Gah." Toero grunted in pain when Sasuke landed right on him, planting his foot into his gut.

"You loose!" the Uchiha declared while holding a fully powered chidori in front of Toero's neck, the air filled with the sound of a thousand chipping birds.

"Yes, that appears to be true." Toero nodded. "Our fight is over."

"Yeah, we did it!" Sakura jumped up with a sheer while Sasuke deactivated the chidori and stood up with a pleased smirk.

"Yeah, we totally kicked his ass, believe it!" Naruto came up grinning. He and Sasuke shared a look and nodded to each other and then offered their hands to Toero, who accepted them after a moment. Without much effort the two genin pulled their colleague back onto his feet, who dusted himself and moved his hand around feeling sore.

"So now tell me, do you yourselves feel that you have improved? Was your training worth it despite everything?"

"Tsk, I guess." Sasuke sighed with a small smirk and went to pick up his sword, putting it back on his back.

"We did improve, no doubt there." Sakura nodded with a smile despite a nice bruise forming around her eyes.

"We were good, but now we are awesome, yeah!" Naruto punched air. "I say we go and eat something, maybe …. "

"My turn to choose, Naruto, we had ramen yesterday anyway. I know a good place to eat not far from the Ichiraku's ramen stand." Sasuke said.

"Great idea Sasuke-kun." Sakura smiled. Sasuke sighed wondering if she would ever stop with those dreamy looks that looked ridiculous especially now that there was a bruise covering her eyes. He looked back at Toero and tilted is head.

"You coming or what?"

"Mmm?" Toero looked at them curiously not expecting such a question.

"Sure, you are a part of this team too." Naruto grinned. "Just not the best part."

"Why not, lead the way." Toero nodded. The genin didn't notice, but for a moment his figure looked much more relaxed than usual.


	37. Chapter 37

Chapter 37

The place Sasuke brought them wasn't fancy at all, but it compensated by having a very warm atmosphere, that made the customer feel welcome. Perhaps that was the reason Sasuke liked to eat here, it sort fob rough back that feeling when he ate at home with his family. He didn't himself realize it, but it gave him some sort of comfort, something similar to peace. In this regard Sasuke was not that much different from Naruto who adored the Ichiraku's ramen stand not so much because of the ramen, but because he was always greeted there with a happy smile. When it all came down to that the food actually mean little.

"Oh, these is such a nice place, Sasuke-kun." Sakura smiled once they all took a seat behind one of the tables. She itched a bit closer to Sasuke, who sighed before resting his chin on his hands in a usual manner just like he did back at the academy.

"What can I get you?" a waitress approached. The place wasn't crowded, so they didn't wait long.

"Do you have ramen here?" Naruto asked immediately, but the waitress shook her head with a confused look. "Darn it. Umm, how about bean soup then?"

"Sure and the others?"

Sasuke and Toero both ordered some rice and tea while Sakura ordered dumplings. She was incredibly hungry after their fight and long since abandoned any ideas of being on a diet. With Toero around being on a diet was a bad idea that could result in you dropping unconscious in the middle of the day having spent all of your energy. Sure, she didn't eat like Naruto, who seemed to be able to eat his own weight in ramen, but when she could now preferred to eat until she felt full. The waitress also offered to bring her an icebag for her eye. Ninjas often came to eat and due to their profession didn't really care about minor injuries, so it wasn't that uncommon to bring a ninja something for his bruise or a minor cut. Such service also attracted more clients.

"So dobe, what was that jutsu you used?" Sasuke asked Naruto as they waited for their meal.

"That was the rasengan, awesome, wasn't it? It will be more impressive when I actually master it completely."

"What do you mean? It obliterated Toero's spear, while my sword barely made scratches." Sasuke objected, but that only made Naruto grin.

"I need to learn to power it up faster, that is what Hinata will try to help me with."

"I see logic in that." Toero nodded. "The Hyuga clan is known for their ability to control and use raw chakra. The technique Uzumaki demonstrated is based on the concept of chakra shape manipulation combined with complex chakra motion."

"Chakra shape manipulation?" Sakura asked leaning close being interested in the topic. Sasuke also listened carefully, but didn't show that he was eager to hear more.

"Along with chakra nature transformation it is one of the most advanced forms of chakra control. Unlike usual methods of gathering and controlling chakra this one requires the wielder to actively shape it into some kind of physical form. In order for that method to produce any kind of result the amount of used chakra must be formidable as the density of the jutsu usually determines how effective it is."

"Hn, Kakashi spoke about gathering chakra in my hand for the chidori." Sasuke nodded. "But that was the easiest part."

"From what I gathered your chidori does incorporate chakra shape manipulation, but only on a very crude, basic level allowing you to hold the jutsu in your hand. It does not add do the power of the jutsu, instead it relies on your ability to transform it into lightning element chakra."

"So, there are like two sides of the same coin?" Sakura understood and turned to the waitress who brought her the icebag. A moment later Sakura felt blissful chill spread over her bruise.

"What if you combine the two?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't know if it is even possible to combine them on such a high level. Chakra manipulation is a topic I only know in theory and can't tell you anything about the possible outcome of this. For now I suggest you concentrate on objectives more within your reach."

"Hn." Sasuke nodded. The idea did intrigue him, but even a simple chidori was draining him when used. Right now he would achieve more by concentrating on other skills, namely the technique Hayate spoke of, the one that incorporated the use of a shadow clone.

"Yes, that is right and the way we are right now reminds me that I should speak with Kakashi-sensei about getting started on some medical ninjutsu. He thinks I can pull it off with my chakra control." Sakura said taking the icebag away for a moment. "Some medical treatment would be nice right now."

"Injuries heal, but experience and skill stays with you, provided that you hone them." Toero spoke.

"Whatever, lets eat, the food has arrived!" Naruto cheered and indeed the waitress returned with their order. After that Toero didn't participate much in the conversation, but for once his presence was intimidating and the genin didn't expect another painful training sessions. Just seeing him eat proved that he was just a human, who had to eat, sleep, rest, much like them. He caused them pian, but they got better because of that and had a reason to respect themselves.

"Toero-san, lord Hokage would like to speak with you." An ANBU suddenly appeared in front of the table. The genin glared at the masked ninja, who for a second felt the air loose some warmth. They for once had a peaceful meal and this guy just had to come and ruin it. Even Sakura didn't look pleased, but when hokage called, you obeyed.

"I will arrive shortly." Toero got up and placed some money on the table covering his share for the meal. The ANBU disappeared in a trademark puff of smoke, while Toero readjusted his bow and went to the door. He stopped for a second and looked at the members of team seven all of whom were looking at him.

"I will tell Kakashi that you three have nothing more to learn from me. I now can trust you."

…

Tsunade watched as a young man entred the hokage's office. Visually he was rather unremarkable if not counting his somewhat unusual hair. His mask was pulled down, hanging around his neck like a scarf, but there was nothing about his face that Tsunade would consider memorable.

"You requested my presence?" Toero didn't seem to even notice Tsunade being present and even though he spoke respectfully his tone was different than the one of a subordinate. Considering the specifics of his situation Tsunade understood that.

"Ah, Toero-san, good to see you. " Hiruzen nodded, but noted that the young man looked like he was a bit roughed up, most likely some kind training considering he was supervising team 7 while Kakashi was busy and those three could be handful.

"Why was I called here, Sarutobi-san?" Toero very rarely addressed the hokage by his title, as if reminding him that he never officially accepted to be his subordinate and the ninja of the village.

"Personally I had no reason to call for you, I am quite aware of your actions and performance and have no reasons to be displeased in any way. It is just that my former student, Tsunade wanted to speak with you." Hiruzen motioned to the side where Tsunade was sitting on a sofa.

"Senju Tsunade." Toero acknowledged with a nod. "You and Orocimaru were teammates once."

"True." Tsunade nodded. "I want to discuss something."

"That is possible provided I am also willing to discuss what you have in mind." The answer was straightforward, basically telling Tsunade to speak, but not promising any kind of answer.

"I've read about your ….. past with Orochimaru. Your condition intrigues me as a medic. I am unaware of a methods he used to transplant a tissue based bloodline into you and such medical knowledge could save lives in the future."

"It could and it could also ruin them. Knowledge is a power like any else."

"Indeed, but I am not Orocimaru." Tsunade stood up looking straight at Toero, who didn't seem to be intimidated by her presence. She didn't expect him to, after all he openly opposed Orochimaru and that guy could be beyond intimidating.

"You require knowledge that Orocimaru gained by the means that you are unwilling to use."

"As I said, I am not Orochimaru, I don't experiment on people, I treat their wounds."

"Some wounds are better be left alone to heal naturally, Senju-san. I will not speak with you on this topic."

"But …. "

"I know Orocimaru and I know his motives and methods. I know nothing about you. I will leave now, Sarutobi-san." Toero turned to the old hokage for a moment and left the office leaving a fuming Tsunade and an amused Hiruzen.

"You knew he would answer like that." Tsunade looked at her old sensei who nodded with a smile before lighting his pipe again.

"Of course. Remember, he is not exactly one of my ninjas, he is more of an ally who simply uses the title of a chunin to avoid certain difficulties. You requested for a chance to speak with him and I complied, but now you yourself understand that demanding anything from his is simply stupid. He is too valuable of an ally to antagonize. I am quite surprised that he even discussed the topic with you, sort of."

"Hmm?"

"That young man is not new to pain. He knows it, feels it almost always. He is so used to it that he is like his bones, bends, but does not break. That pain, both physical and emotional shaped him into who he is, into a being without any illusions clouding his sight. He doesn't believe in higher ideals, he doesn't think about building a brighter and better future. He admits that the world we live in is ruled by hate and pain. He doesn't hate it, he accepts it as a natural order of things. He understands suffering and accepted it as his way of survival. Do not demand him to share that unless he himself tells you about it."

"He told you."

"Because he decided that I have the right to know, because I could be his potential ally. He knows little about who you are and what you can offer. He will not speak with you about these things and about himself. For now, forget about this, Tsunade."

…..

Hinata's mind was running a thousand thoughts a second. She just couldn't understand how it happened that she and Naruto agreed to train together. He seemed so free about how he interacted with people and at the same time he never seemed to hurt anyone or badmouth anyone. He was a very strong willed person, yet very kind and caring. Hinata was convinced that his kindness and ability to care so deeply was what gave him the power to never give up.

"Oh, hey Hinata, am I late?" Naruto ran into the clearing.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata was happy that he actually showed. She knew she came too early, but was already thinking that perhaps he found something better to do.

"Alright, I am ready to train, because I really want to master the rasengan. I doubt the perv will teach me anything else otherwise if I find him that is."

"Y-yes, lets start."

"Alright, so you see, I need to pour a ton of chakra into the jutsu, all the while spinning it and containing it in a sphere. The problem is that if I use the correct amount of chakra from the start it all blows up in my face." Naruto scratched his head. "So I add chakra slowly until I reach a correct level. Can you think of any way for me to fix that?"

Hinata immediately began thinking. She easily understood the concept, it was like filling a glass with water. If the water came pouring too hard it would splash out of the glass from the pressure, but if you had a gentle stream you could easily control it and fill the glass.

"Umm, I have an idea ….. but I don't know if ….. if it will work."

"Lets try it, so tell me about it?" Naruto was all ears looking at Hinata who turned a bit red from his stare.

"Um …. You, you need to use c-chakra to form a layer … like a shield that will keep the chakra from e-escaping your control."

"Chakra layer … oh, I get it, like the shell of an egg?"

"Y-yes, exactly, Naruto-kun. You can t-then transfer the c-chakra from the protective layer … into the jutsu and c-complete it."

"Alright, alright, lets try it." Naruto took a step back and Hinata once more watched in amazement as a sphere of chakra appeared. For a moment it seemed to be working, but then the jutsu went out of control and exploded with Naruto rolling back, the dense chakra lashing out in every direction.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata ran up to the boy thinking he was injured, but he soon sat up shaking his head and then smiled at her.

"Hinata, you are a genius, I almost did and in less than a few seconds. I just need to practice more to figure out how exactly do I do this, but it works!"

"Oh, I am happy …. t-than my idea works, N-Naruto-kun. A-are you alright?"

"This, oh, this is nothing, Hinata, compared to training with Toero this is a walk in the park."

"Toero-san? M-my father talked about him."

"Really, what did he say?"

"H-he warned me … not to do anything t-to earn his ire."

"Good call, Toero isn't actually a guy to take a joke and he is a pain to train with, but I he is a strong ninja and he knows stuff. My team sparred against him today actually and we beat him. We were awesome"

"T-that is amazing, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata blushed again.

"Alright, I know now know what I should do, what is that jutsu you spoke of and how can I help?"

"Oh ….. that …. " Hinata went even redder and turned away for a second. "I ….. I want to use that chakra motion to …. m-make my own defensive jutsu."

"Your own jutsu, sound great, the only jutsu I ever invented is my sexy jutsu, but it is great against perverts."

"Ummm …. " Hinata remembered how Naruto turned into a very pretty and no less naked lady in the middle of the classroom back in the academy and it took all her resolve not to faint.

"Hinata, you alright?"

"Y-yes. N-Naruto-kun, can I observe the … chakra motion with my byakugan."

"Sure, no problem." Naruto held up his hand and basically performed the first step of the rasengan using nothing but chakra. Hinata seemed fascinated by how the chakra moved in every direction, it was a breathtaking view for those blessed with the Hyuga clan bloodline.

"I …. I think I c-can start."

"Oh, alright. I'll work on the rasengan while you do your jutsu." Naruto nodded and the two genin began working. Minutes turned into hours as they kept trying to improve their techniques. Naruto actually managed to cut the time he needed to make the rasengan in half if not more and was steadily getting better. Even the chakra explosions no longer were as violent, not even knocking him over, proving that was able to contain the chakra almost completely. Naruto couldn't help though but to glance at Hinata, who was moving her hands around, her palms glowing with chakra. Naruto couldn't really understand what she was trying to achieve, but he could see thin trails of chakra remain for a short while as she moved her hands.

"Whoah." Naruto for a moment stopped his own training as Hinata sped up her movements. Her flexibility allowed her to bend at almost unimaginable angles as she moved. Soon though she began to slow down until she almost collapsed to her knees from exhaustion.

"Hey, Hinata, maybe you should take a break, I could use one too." Naruto ran up to the girl who nodded and they both went to sit by the training posts. Naruto actually had the energy to go on, but decided that Hinata would be bored just sitting and resting alone, so why not keep her company.

"Still need to be faster and more chakra." Hinata muttered with determination unusual for her. It seemed that she was really concentrated on her jutsu.

"That is what we are training for, to make it perfect. Still, look great, I bet you will have a great jutsu once you complete it." Naruto said honestly.

"Y-you really think so?"

"Sure, I mean you went all like this with your hands and chakra followed like so and ….. how are you going to call it?"

"I-I haven't thought about that … yet."

"Why not, a jutsu needs a name. You said it is about defense, so that should be in it, but also something from Hyugas, since you are a Hyuga …. Man, I am no good at thinking up names!" Naruto leaned back feeling frustrated. His words made Hinata think and after a moment the corners of her lips moved up in a faint smile.

"I-I think I have an idea."

"See, how great is that?" Naruto grinned. "Hmm, getting pretty late."

"Y-yes." Hinata looked at the sky watching as the sun was beginning to set. "I will have to get back s-soon. I … will have to spar w-with my sister tomorrow."

"Oh, sounds neat if you help each other to get stronger." Naruto smiled, but then noticed that Hinata seemed sad.

"I ….. I can't h-hurt my sister."

"Then how do you spar without hitting her, that is just like giving up." Naruto narrowed his eyes, his goofy happy expression quickly exchanged for a very serious one.

"Umm …. well."

"You know, when we train with Toero he often hurts us, or humiliates us. He is not gentle at all and doesn't encourage you or tell you that you will do better next time. Hell, I almost drowned the first time he trained us." Hinata listened to Naruto with wide eyes.

"But you know, we got much better thanks to him. I know that before he would've wiped the floor with us, but today we actually pinned him down. He caused us pain and we learned. And today in the morning Iruka had us tell some pretty dark stuff to the academy about being a ninja and that was also painful. I think that sometimes to cause pain is to care. If that pain helps others get better, stronger, than it is worth it."

"Y-you mean …. "

"Iruka-sensei is the best teacher ever, I doubt he just tried to scare his students. He just cares and wants them to be prepared even if it means causing them pain. Toero, I am not sure, but I think that he also cares somewhat, he almost seemed pleased at our performance today. So if you care for your sister, fight her like you mean it. If you hurt her, it will not be out of malice, but because you want her not to get hurt when it will be an enemy delivering a strike."

"I ….. I understand. Maybe ….. I'll try."

"Besides, I bet if you go all out, you will be an awesome sparring partner." Naruto grinned.


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter 38

It was doubtful that among the ninja population of the village there were those who didn't know who Hyuga Hiashi was. He was after all the head of the largest and most powerful clan in Konoha, a man with considerable political influence. Of course his position as a clan leader didn't give him any official authority over the political matters in the village, but he was a person whose opinion was always considered. After all the members of the Hyuga clan were generally strong ninjas with a very useful bloodline and thus the whole clan was a great asset to the military power of the village, especially now, that the Uchiha clan was reduced to a single genin and his S-rank rogue ninja of a brother.

Still Hiashi was a very intelligent man, capable of easily navigating in the village politics without getting too many enemies, but still expanding the political grip of his clan. He influenced the events instead of getting involved personally, because he was also a ninja and their methods were always less straight forward. But along with being a powerful shinobi, a political figure and the head of a clan, Hyuga Hiashi was also a father. Some though that he was a cold man, that suppressed any love and emotion for his children, but Hiashi knew, that open affection for his daughters could be seen as a sign of weakness. There would be those willing to try and manipulate his actions through his children if he would show that they meant much for him. As sad as it was, being a clan leader meant that many sacrifices had to be made in order to protect his daughters. When thinking about this Hiashi really missed his wife, her death depriving his children of so much needed parental love.

The situation with his firstborn, Hinata was especially concerning. Her progress in the clan techniques was not living up to the expectation, as after all she was the future heiress to his title. He saw how she struggled with fighting styles and techniques that simply didn't seem to suit her and he couldn't offer any kind of encouragement in order to not loose his reputation of a man dedicated only to the wellbeing of a clan. He did what he could, most importantly finding an instructor for Hinata. Yuhi Kurenai of course could not teach the girl anything in connection with the Hyuga clan techniques, they were after all a very closely guarded secrets. Hiashi also pulled some strings fo Yuhi Kurenai to become the jounin instructor of his daughter's genin team. Some voiced their surprise when a genjutsu mistress became a leader of a squad mostly oriented around tracking and scouting, but she was at least a familiar and caring person Hinata could turn to for some emotional support she could hardly get at home.

"You may begin." Hiashi settled down to observe another spar between his daughters, again wondering how they turned out to be so different. If Hinata was a gentle, caring person, then Hanabi was an aggressive and somewhat arrogant girl who greatly prided herself of being born into the main family of the Hyuga clan and being the daughter of the clan leader. Those traits of character transferred into their fighting style. Hinata was mostly on defense, while Hanabi preferred attacking and eventually overwhelming her sister despite being younger. It all was the same this time with Hinata slowly retreating under the barrage of strikes from her sister. Hiashi frowned noticing how Hanabi left openings more than once, but Hinata didn't exploit them. At this rate it would be just a matter of time.

"Hmm?" Hiashi raised an eyebrow. Just a moment ago Hanabi seemed ready to deliver a fist solid hit to her sister's chest, but Hinata somehow moved out of the way and for the first time Hiashi saw something he wasn't used to. Hinata's eyes were different, they held something he never saw earlier. He just couldn't understand what it was.

"Tsk, lucky." Hanabi frowned and attacked again. Her hands moved in basic pattern taught to those fighting using juuken style. Fast, precise attacks aiming to thrown the opponent off balance, pierce his defense and deliver a devastating strike. During training the amount of chakra used was cut to a bare minimum in order to not injure the partner, but just make him feel the stinging pain of a juuken strike.

Hiashi now observed more closely, watching as Hinata avoided the strikes, but it didn't seem that she was struggling with her defense. Still, she didn't block or dodge in a manner Hiashi was accustomed to, she seemed to almost flow around the barrage of strikes. Instead of opposing them, she flowed with them, turning a confrontation into something that resembled a dance, at least on her part. Hanabi seemed frustrated at her inability to land any hits, but then all of a sudden, when she finally saw a clear opening her sister somehow maneuvered herself behind Hanabi's back. A byakugan was a curse at such moments as the younger girl saw in every detail how her sister's hand shot forward, scoring a direct hit on the back right between Hanabi's shoulders.

"Umpff!" Hanabi fell face down and slid on the floor. She was so surprised that she didn't even manage to collect herself and land without slamming her chin against the ground. She pulled herself up and faced her sister again, but now Hiashi clearly identified that look in Hinata's eyes. Resolve. But to do what?"

Hanabi didn't wait for her father to restart the fight and shot forward, her strike only hitting air, while Hinata's palm found it's way to Hanabi's stomach, landing a blow strong enough to make the younger sister collapse down to her knees.

"Stop for now." Hiashi stood up approaching his two daughters. He looked at them with a neutral expression and then rubbed his chin in deep thought.

"Hanabi, got sit down for now." Hiashi sent the youngest daughter to rest, while he himself slid into a juuken stance facing Hinata.

"You seem to move in a very unorthodox manner, Hinata."

"Y-yes father."

"Let see." Hiashi himself attacked. Unlike Hanabi he was a master with years of experience and his first three strikes nearly broke through Hinata's defense, but then she suddenly leaned back, his palm passing harmlessly over her chest, while Hinata herself lashed out with a strike. Hiashi moved back, feeling the familiar stinging sensation around his elbow, where Hnata scored a glancing blow, but it was still a blow she managed to land on him. Repeating the attacks several times Hiashi finally understood the concept Hinata now applied to her fighting method and even though he still relatively easily overwhelmed her, her had to admit that it proved highly effective when she used it.

"Enough for now." Hiashi pulled back, while Hinata stood breathing heavily, but still quite ready to go on. "You abandoned the customary method of utilizing juuken, instead turning into something that requires a completely different mindset. Using your flexible body and quick reactions you adapt your movements to the rhythm of your opponent, making him waste his energy by trying to hit you. Any attack will potentially leave him open for you to counter, as missed strikes throw the attacker off balance." Hiashi voiced his thoughts looking at Hinata. What makes you think you will succeed, after all the traditional juuken style was created by our ancestors. Do you really believe that will be able to create something new?"

"Y-yes …. "Hinata for a moment looked away, but then for the first time in who knows how long looked her father in the eyes. "Because there are those who believe in me ….. and I believe in myself."

Hiashi fought down an urge to step away from his daughter who right now really resembled his late wife when she was irritated by something.

"Hmm, lets say I am intrigued Hinata. You will demonstrate the progress of your development at a later date and I find your method acceptable and not lacking in comparison to our more traditional ways, then I shall allow you to keep training in this manner. As for today, you demonstrated potential of your approach." Hiashi declared and turned to his younger daughter.

"Hanabi, for the time being Neji will be your training partner, you might benefit from experiencing his skill first hand. I am arranging this in order to give your sister more time for her own developmet, but I shouldn't say that training no matter how important must not interfere with the duties of a ninja of the village." Hiashi glanced at Hinata who bowed respectfully. She had time and she would use it well in order to finish her technique and prove once and for all, that she could be strong.

….

"Damn it, my chakra ….. " Sasuke leaned on his sword trying to catch his breath while Hayate stood nearby looking as sick as ever. Today Sasuke was given time to practice his new technique, or rather try to at least perform it, but even with the sharingan it proved incredibly hard to use correctly. The worst part was that it incorporated the shadow clone jutsu as the means of an elaborate decoy, but for Sasuke creating a clone after a clone turned into torture, his chakra reserves quickly getting dangerously low.

"You are getting ….. cough …. closer to doing it." Hayate acknowledged Sasuke's progress, but the Uchiha wasn't satisfied with the way it went. When Hayate demonstrated it, the technique looked fairly simple, but when it came to actually performing the jutsu, it was a whole different story. Besides, Naruto learned to use that chakra sphere jutsu, so Sasuke just had to master his new technique in order to keep up.

"Fine, lets try again." Sasuke held up his sword.

"You … cough …. sure? You don't look well."

"That coming from you?" Sasuke smirked and Hayate chuckled holding up his new sword. After all his old one was still sealed up underground somewhere. The Uchiha attacked, with Hayate blocking his slashes, the air getting filled with the sounds of metal clashing against metal.

"Hn?" Hayate took a step back, avoiding a slash and loosing sight of Sasuke for a moment. Then came another strike aimed for Hayate's chest, but the swordsman parried it getting into a weapon lock with the young Uchiha, with a grunt pulled his sword back and spun around, his katana moving in a wide arc with enough speed to live afterimages.

"Dance of the crescent moon!"

Hayate blocked the slash and spun around only to see Sasuke land behind him with a sword positioned against Hayate's neck. The shadow clone behind him disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Perfect." Hayate nodded taking a step back away from the blade, while Sasuke suddenly fell down on his back trying to catch his breath. That last shadow clone ate up the last bits of chakra Sasuke had to spare, but it was so worth it. After all this training he finally pulled of a complex technique with his sword. He couldn't help by feel pride and satisfaction from his achievement not much different from what he felt when he first managed to perform chidori.

"Your teammates are …. cough …. coming. Good work today." Hayate waved and disappeared leaving only wisps of white smoke behind that were quickly carried away by the wind. Sasuke turned his head to the side feeling no desire to get up and indeed saw his teammates walk, or rather limp into the clearing.

"What happened to you two?" Sasuke asked from his position on the ground.

"I could ask you the same question, teme. Overused the shadow clones?" Naruto slumped on the ground and Sakura did the same, all three just looking up at the sky with their heads almost touching.

"Shut up, dobe. Now everyone has more chakra than brains."

"Oh, stop being an ass." Naruto growled in annoyance.

"Naruto, stop calling Sasuke-kun names."

"I am stating bare facts, that is totally different." Naruto objected.

"Whatever." Sasuke didn't want to argue. "Yes, I exhausted most of my chakra while training to master the new technique and it does involve that accursed shadow clone jutsu."

"Shadow clone jutsu is awesome!"

"For you, maybe, for me it is torture and for Sakura it would be a death sentence. Still, what did Toero do with you two?"

"Don't ask." Naruto growled, but Sakura decided to explain.

"He said that yesterday me and Naruto sucked when it came to facing an opponent armed with a polearm, so he made that spear again and we had a nice pain filled training session. He also said that he needed to practice against fighting multiple opponents supported by genjutsu, so me and Sakura provided that. It wasn't a lesson, more like a spar now where we all tried to improve."

"Yeah, but he still is a pain to go against. At least I managed to once smack him straight in the jaw, while Sakura distracted him." Naruto said proudly.

"And how well did that go, Naruto? He barely moved, while you went running around screaming and holding your hand. A swear I heard something crack in it when you struck."

"His bones are dense enough to withstand slashes from a sword and you are surprised it hurts to hit that guy?" Sasuke asked with a critical look turning his head to Sakura. "One should try to damage his muscles, arteries, inner organs, eyes, but don't try to break his bones."

"Thank you, my hand figured it out already." Naruto held up his hand that had a large dark blue bruise, but Naruto knew it would be gone by the end of the day.

"Only you learn with your hands instead of your head. At least you are decent at doing that."

"Wow, Sasuke, thanks, that sounded almost not like an insult." Naruto sighed, but then smirked.

"Hn, why are you so early? Training with Toero usually lasts longer."

"An ANBU appeared again and called him. Said something about a potential mission."

"Really, maybe they will send him away for a couple of days?" Sasuke wondered and his teammates agreed that a bit of a rest would be nice.

….

Lee woke up and was greeted by a sight of his sensei and his two teammates standing over his bed. His back felt sore after the surgery, but Shizune explained that everything went well. The news nearly made Lee jump out of bed with joy, but luckily Neji and Tenten managed to push him down. After that Gai went into to a teary tirade about the flames of youth and how they could overcome anything and so and so on. Neji and Tenten know better than to interrupt that, but the weapon mistress couldn't help but smile at thought of her team returning to normal. Sure, her corrent situation had it's perks, but she knew that being with her team would be more comfortable for her.

"Neji, we must train hard. Once I get up and will be able to train I will train harder than I ever did and you should to!" Lee declared.

"Umm?" Neji looked questionably at Lee. He half expected his teammate to declare his desire to train but what was that about dragging him into it.

"Neji we must train hard to catch up to Tenten-san, who now outranks us because of her most youthful actions during the battle!"

"Lee, for the last time, I wasn't promoted because I am that awesome of a fighter. Chunin needs other skills too. Maong us three Neji is a strongest genin." Tenten sighed.

"Yes! But other skills can be developed too, by hard work and dedication to the cause." Gai gave them a blinding smile that made Neji's eye twitch.

"Oh, well, good luck with your training Neji, hope you'll enjoy it." Tenten placed her hand on Neji shoulder trying not to laugh.

"That is not funny!" Neji turned to Tenten, but that only made the girl laugh at his misfortune. He was about to reply in some manner when an Anbu operative appeared between them.

"Tenten-san, lord Hokage requests your presence in regards to the possible assignment. You are to go immediately."

"Aghhh, these ANBU guys annoy me!" Tenten yelled when the masked ninja disappeared in the same manner he came. "Who do they think they are, just appearing like that. What if I was doing something private?"

"Like what?" Lee asked curiously.

"I don't know … maybe I was home with someone, or on a date."

"You? Doubtful." Neji shrugged.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Tenten fumed, while Neji silently enjoyed his payback.

….

It was nice gazing at the clouds. They were so peaceful, so free to just float around and do nothing. Not a bother in the world. Yep, being a cloud was nice and watching them was also the least troublesome thing there was.

Shikamaru had a nice lazy day. Ino was stuck in the flower shop, Chouji had something to do with his dad, Neji went to see his teammate, which meant that there was nothing else to do but being lazy. Of course he could go train, but that was such a drag, watching clouds from the roof of his own house was a much more appealing way of spending the day. For a moment Shikamaru even closed his eyes enjoying the warm sun. Perhaps he could take a nap while he was here, couldn't hurt.

"Hm?" the warm feeling granted by the sunshine disappeared and Shikamaru felt someone standing over him. He opened his eyes and saw an ANBU operative blocking the sun.

"Shikamaru Nara-san, lord Hokage requests your presence in regards to the possible assignment. You are to go immediately." The ANBU said and disappeared.

"Troublesome asshole. Oh well." Shikamaru stood up and stretched. He looked around and yawned.

"Shikamaru, I head that ANBU! Get going to the hokage's office, right now!" Shikamaru nearly fell off the roof when he heard his mother's voice coming from the kitchen.

"I am going, I am going." Shikamaru jumped down to the street. "Bossy woman."

"I heard that!"

Some people wondered if their eyes were playing tricks on then, or perhaps they indeed saw a Nara run through the streets as if he was in a hurry.

….

"I am glad all of you arrive so quickly." Hiruzen nodded and sent Shikamaru a surprised glance. Sure when it came to being late the Naras had nothing on Kakashi, but still.

"Heh." Asuma smirked watching his student walk up to the other people present. Aside from Asuma there was also Toero and Tenten here, while Tsunade stood behind the third hokage with a scroll in her hands.

"So, why did you gather us here?" Asuma lighted a cigarette earning looks of distaste from Tenten and Tsunade.

"I will explain that." Tsuande sighed. Her sensei had her hand out mission assignments, a part of hokage's job she didn't enjoy. "Some time ago during a simple C rank mission genin squad seven uncovered a plot of a potential uprising in the land of fire. We provided the information to the feudal lord as it was not a matter of village security. We hoped that the feudal lord would be able to handle the situation without other help, but it so happens we though wrong."

"Nice." Asuma grinned. "He wasted an opportunity to handle the matter and now needs us to help clean up the mess?"

"Precisely." Hiruzen nodded and motioned for Tsunade to go on.

"Either way the conflict escalated to a localized war, with the eastern provinces partially occupied by the rebels. They counted on the fact that after the recent invasion the hidden leaf would be unable to actively participate in this conflict and unfortunately they are correct. Asuma is the only jounin we can spare right now."

"And you give me three chunin as back up against an army?" Asuma tilted his head.

"First of all you get only two chunin." Tsunade stated and unrolled a large map on the table.

"Shikamaru will take your genin team, Asuma, with an addition of Hyuga Neji and Inuzuka Kiba from team 8 and will move here to help the local military forces stop the raids on the supply lines. The problem there is that someone seems to give the rebels information, so I hope Yamanaka Ino will be of good use. Secure the supply line and then move to join the main army that is gathering near the capitol." Tsunade looked at Shikamaru in a way that made a shiver run down his spine.

"As for you, Asuma, you will take the remaining two chunin, genin squad 7 and the remaining members of genin squad 8 and will move here, towards the Immarso bridge. There is a part of feudal army there and you will help them in their task of preventing the rebel army from crossing the river and moving into the heart of the country."

"Got it. Well, we'd better go prepare." Asuma sighed and released some smoke into the air before putting out the cigarette and throwing it out the window.


	39. Chapter 39

Chapter 39

It was decided, that for a while the two large teams would travel together. Then they would split up, with Shikamaru's team heading north to carry out their mission, while Asuma's larger and more combat oriented group would move towards the river and then travel along the shore towards their destination. It was logical that a group that most likely take part in have fighting was led by a jounin, while Shikamaru's group had a more delicate assignment that required someone capable of pallning out a complex operation to lure out and identify a person providing the rebel forces with the critical information. Overall that would require a more delicate approach without the need to rush into thing. Also Shikamaru's group was provided with good scouting, observation, tracking, capture and interrogation capabilities, all that would be needed.

"Oh wow, almost everyone is here, just like chunin exams again." Ino clapped her hands as the large ninja group assembled.

"Oh don't remind me of those." Sakura frowned. The chunin exams didn't leave her with many happy memories if any at all. The exams went down hill from day one, starting with that nerve shaking first exams and then things really went bad once Orochimaru appeared during the second part. All that was topped with the invasion in the end. Still, Ino didn't seem to pay much attention to Sakura's gloomy mood, as she had someone else on her mind and in her sight.

"Hey, Sasuke-kun. Too bad we aren't on the same team this time. I bet we would completed out mission quickly with some time to spare." Ino spoke in a flirty tone that made Sasuke groan. Since Sasuke mostly ignored Sakura's attempts to flirt with him, her behavior toned down to a level where he no longer felt as annoyed at his female teammate. When it came to Ino though, Sasuke had to fight an urge to either run away, or simply knock the girl out.

"This is not the time, nor the place for that Yamanaka." Toero spoke in his usual sharp uncompromising manner that made Ino turn to him with irritation. Sasuke released a breath of relief when Ino attention shifted to the archer. He almost wanted to thank the guy.

"And who put you in charge?" Ino scowled.

"You seem to forget your place, Yamanaka. Right now, I am one of those with the right to issue orders to you. Do you understand, or should I … "

"She gets it, she is sorry." Sakura pulled Ino away with her hand over the blonde's mouth, stopping her from saying anything. Toero didn't seem convinced, far from it, but did do anything except for turning away.

"Sakura, what gives, I was just about to give that asshole a piece of my mind." Ino glared at Sakura who finally released her.

"You stupid? You don't give Toero a piece of your mind unless you want him to obliterate you both physically and emotionally. Don't mess with him, seriously."

"Pfft, doesn't seem like much. I bet you just don't want to be in trouble later."

"Think whatever you want, just don't give him any reason to … just don't irritate him, alright?"

"Whatever, forehead." Ino smirked, but Sakura just sighed. Her friend simple didn't get it. Nearby Naruto approached Sasuke with his usual toothy grin.

"Saved, by Toero, that doesn't happen often." Naruto long since knew about Sasuke being annoyed at the girls constantly flirting with him and asking for dates. Naruto actually wondered why Sasuke never accepted any of the offers, it just wasn't possible that none of those girls interested him, though in reality that was exactly the case. Those girls didn't know him didn't understand him and had nothing he could value. So in his opinion most of them were a complete waste of space.

"Whatever" Sasuke shrugged. "What do you think about the mission?"

"I say we could use a bit of action. Besides, from what I understand we will be fighting a bunch of mercenaries and regular scum, they shouldn't be that tough."

"They will more than make up for that in numbers." Sasuke replied.

"Come on, remember back in the Wave, Zabuza tore through those Gato's guys like knife through butter."

"And died as the result and I don't remember that, I was in a temporary death state." Sasuke sent Naruto a glare.

"Oh right. Man, that looked scary and awesome. I mean, sure, Zabuza died and all, but he tore through their ranks with a single kunai … in his teeth. How sick is that?"

"Hn." Sasuke imagined the picture of a blood covered Zabuza with a kunai between his teeth and a maniacal gleam in his eyes. That alone could scare many people. But Naruto had a point, a regular mercenary was no match for a trained ninja, even a genin, unless they came in enormous numbers. But despite that this mission could turn out to be pretty dangerous, most of them had no experience in fighting battles involving such large amounts of people. After all the feudal army couldn't be small.

"Ahem, seems that everyone is here and is prepared." Asuma addressed the ninjas before him. "First of all I want you to follow the orders of higher ranking ninja without any questions. That means that chunin listen to me and genin listen to chunin, that goes double for you Ino."

Sakura smirked as Asuma made Ino look away. Apparently he noticed her little encounter with Toero. With Shikamaru becoming chunin, the dynamics of Ino's team didn't change much, since even before Shikamaru was the one to make plans and ideas. Basically his unofficial position as a team leader was made official. Asuma most of the time was a rather laid back person and as a result Ino had a bit of a problem when it came to subordination.

"Now, we will be all traveling as one group for now, but we time is short, so if any of you expected a calm walk, I am sorry to disappoint you. We will be running for eleven hours straight until we reach the point where we will split up. No questions? Lets move." Asuma spat out a cigarette and stomped on it, putting the thing out. Once that was done Asuma jumped up into the trees followed by the rest of the ninja.

If anything, jumping through the trees didn't allow you to feel bored, not too bored at least. Keeping attention was necessary because you could either loose your team leader or run straight into some branch. But even though moving around like this was the fastest method of traveling generally available to most ninjas it had a certain disadvantage. It required high stamina to use for extended periods of time. This particular disadvantage was becoming quite clear to some members of the large ninja group.

Asuma frowned. His genin team was never combat oriented and that was why when training them he mostly stressed the need for flawless cooperation between their members. This made team 10 quite tricky to handle in a direct confrontation, while also allowing them to effectively ambush enemies. Still they mostly relied on fast well planned attacks and had little chance in a prolonged fight when then you had to outlast the opponent. None of the members of team ten had sufficient muscle mass or stamina for that. Even Chouji who was considered a front line fighter relied on his family techniques to increase his own mass in order to deliver relatively slow, but devastating strikes. All of that was becoming painfully clear as half way to their first checkpoint the members of team ten were showing clear signs of fatigue. This posed a dilemma for Asuma, as he couldn't allow the ninja to take a break, especially if there were only three of them who actually required it.

"Oh no." Chouji didn't push off the branch hard enough and began falling down.

"Oh, thanks!" Choiji felt someone catch him and hoist him up on the shoulder. "I am not that good at long runs."

"Silence." Toero held Chouji on his shoulder without showing much strain. "Uzumaki, Uchiha."

"Tsk, fine." Sasuke scowled.

"No, I won't carry her, teme." Naruto shook his head when Sasuke turned to ANruto with a silent plea. Sasuke couldn't really blame his teammate, he knew that there would be loud objections followed by nonstop ranting on Ino's part. Perhaps if he carried her she would the very least be silent."

"Troublesome, but oh well." Shikamaru sighed when Naruto hoisted him on his back jump forward in order to gain up to the others. Shikamaru actually didn't mind, he took the time to take a nap despite annoyed growls coming from the young jinchuuriki.

"Oh, you are such a gentleman, Sasuke-kun." Ino almost squealed when Sasuke hoisted her on his back. As usual he plainly ignored her or at least tried. He cursed the heavens for this predicament. The only consolation he had, was that moving with added weight could be considered training. He also hoped that the sword on his back would make Ino's time as uncomfortable as possible.

"Hey, Sasuke-kun, maybe when we get back from a mission we could ….. "

"No."

"But …. "

"No."

"You didn't let me finish." Ino pouted.

"You wanted to ask me on a date?"

"Yes!"

"No." Sasuke sighed shaking his head.

"Aww, why not?" Ino asked.

"I don't like you."

"Huh? Why, am I not pretty?" Ino for a moment sounded offended.

"Don't know, don't care. And for the record, I have no particular liking for girls with long hair, nor for slim girls, nor for ….. whatever other nonsense was there back in the academy."

"But ….. " Ino blinked in disbelief.

"Just shut up. You annoy me."

"How come?"

Sasuke groaned again. What part of shutting up was hard to understand? You just closed your mouth and that was about it, yet for some reason it was very hard for her. Curse Naruto for having to carry the lazy, but far less annoying Nara.

"I mean you are teammates with Naruto and he is … "

"He is an idiot." Sasuke nodded. "But that doesn't stop him from being a competent ninja. I don't care if he is loud, obnoxious or if he is color blind considering his jumpsuit. He is strong and he makes the team strong and I can rely on him to watch my back. The only thing you can do for my back, is ride on it!" Sasuke raised his voice making Ino squeak in fear, pulling her head into her shoulders.

"So once more, shut up."

…..

"This is the place!" Asuma landed in the middle of a rather unremarkable clearing with the others landing around him.

"We rest for fifteen minutes and then split up. Naruto, I need to talk with Shikamaru." Asuma sat down under a tree and rolled out a map. He wanted to discuss the best possible route with his student, who flew through the air and landed right next to Asuma.

"You could've just shaken me awake, that would be far less troublesome." Shikamaru pulled himself into a sitting position. He saw Ino slide off Sasuke's back, being surprisingly quiet, while Toero threw Chouji down like a sack of potatoes.

"Be happy that you didn't drool on me while taking a nap. I'd pound you silly then." Naruto said with a laugh.

"Toero-san, please, keep watch, just in case." Asuma looked up and the archer disappeared in the trees after a short nod. The others took time to grab something to eat.

"So, I gather Sasuke-kun didn't appreciate having to carry you?" Sakura sat down next to Ino and handed her a ration bar.

"No, he wasn't." Ino shook her head taking a bite from the bar and not minding the taste. "He said some mean things."

"Relax, he didn't aim to make you feel bad."

"Hmpf." Ino didn't reply and took another bite. She then looked at Sakura, but didn't say anything.

"What?"

"It is just …. "

"Out with it."

"Who is Sasuke? I mean what he likes, what he hates?" Ino asked not knowing what to think right now.

"Umm, well ….. when he talked about his likes and dislikes he said that he doesn't particularly like anything, or anyone. I am not sure that he even thinks in those categories, for him it is different. I guess he either respects you, or doesn't. He either finds things useful, or useless and useless things are annoying, because they serve no useful purpose." Sakura explained.

"So what we did in the academy ….. "

"Yeah, total waste of time. I don't of course mean the objective …. " Sakura sent a dreamy glance at Sasuke who was rubbing is lower back with a scow while sitting down. " …. but our methods at getting his attention …. it is all quite silly actually."

"Oh great, now I have to rethink my approach." Ino frowned.

"Sure you do that." Sakura smirked.

"Hey, why aren't you annoyed and why are you even telling me this? We are rivals for Sasuke-kun's heart."

"Sure we are, but if we bicker all the time that sure won't give any of us points, he'll just think of us as of annoying useless girls. I am more content with my current position of a loyal comrade."

"You?"

"Well, he didn't end up having to carry me all the way here, now did he?"

"Oh shut it, not my fault ….. "

"Actually, totally your fault, well maybe you can blame Asuma-sensei too for not pushing you three hard enough. Then again you didn't have our motivator." Sakura looked up.

"You mean that Toero? He is a total ass."

"He is ….. harsh, I'll say that much. Being around him is not easy, training with him, hmm, not far from a torture, but he knows what he is talking about. He is a skilled and deadly ninja and you don't mess with such people unless you want a good portion of pain in your life."

…

After splitting up Asuma's group made it's way towards the river. It was another two and a half hours worth of moving at top ninja speeds, so by the time they actually reached to river it was already dark.

"We camp here tonight." Asuma declared. It was pretty dark so when Sasuke set up a campfire it was a welcomed source of both light and warmth. Asuma barked out a couple of orders and settled down to plan out their course for tomorrow. Soon everyone was working. Sasuke and Hinata were sent to the water to catch some fish. Their ocular bloodline allowed them to perform that task even in total darkness and Asuma decided against using their supplies if they could avoid it. Sasuke and Shino began setting up tents, while Naruto went to get more firewood. Sakura began boiling water and preparing to turn freshly caught fish into some warm soup. Toero and Tenten went to set up some traps, most aimed to warn them should the enemy approach. Either way soon enough everyone settled down for supper.

"Yeah, sure beats the ration bar." Naruto grinned. He ate in a manner that was clearly different from a slow and dignified way of eating demonstrated by Shino and Hinata. But that nenver bothered anyone. On the contrary a picture of Naruto taking time with his food would actually put others on the edge. It would simply look unnatural.

"Will we reach that bridge by tomorrow?" Sasuke looked at Asuma.

"Yeah, that was the plan. We will move along the river, so we won't miss it, though it will hard to miss."

"Awesome." Naruto grinned. "This whole idea with the bridge actually brings back memories. I mean I can't help but think back to our adventure in the Wave country."

"You could tell us you know." Tenten pointed out. "Most of us have very little idea of what happened to you on that mission."

So Naruto decided to tell the story with Sasuke and Sakura adding their own parts not allowing Naruto to trail off too much. It was a nice way to pass the time and even though the story itself was rather dramatic, everyone laughed when Naruto admitted that he originally thought that Haku was a girl. It was an interesting story and best of all truthful.

"Shino, take first watch." Asuma said as others prepared to go to sleep. "Toero, you next, then, Sasuke, Tenten, Naruto. Others just sleep."

"Move over, dobe, you are not at home." Came from one of the tents and Tenten giggled at that. She was about to join Sakura and Hinata when she saw that Toero was still sitting by the fire. By the looks of it he was making an extra string for his bow, a slow and monotonous process. What surprised her was that he was humming something, something that sounded familiar.

"Well, I didn't expect that." Tenten sat down next to Toero with mirth in her eyes. He didn't react to her presence, except shifting slightly on his spot. "Never thought you'd be a music type."

"I am not."

"But you hummed a tune." Tenten objected. Toero suddenly looked up at her, but his eyes quickly turned back to his work, though something appeared under that cold look.

"It just comes to my mind when I do something like this." Toero held up the unfinished bowstring.

"Well, that is nice, it proves that you are actually a human." Tenten released a short laugh, but Toero didn't show that he appreciated the humor.

"Pfft, whatever, I happen to know that tune." Tenten spoke and was pleased by the result. Almost instantly Toero's fingers stopped their work and his whole body tensed up. "Yeah, it is actually a lullaby. To think that you would be humming a lullaby." Tenten covered her mouth not to laugh. She wondered what Toero's reaction would be, but he just stood up after a moment.

"I'll go exchange the Aburame."

"But his shift barely started."

"No matter." Toero walked off leaving a puzzled Tenten who couldn't understand if she said anything she shouldn't have.

Shino didn't object when Toero sent him to sleep, just made a mental note about it. Still some extra time to rest was welcomed, so he soon left the silent archer alone in the woods. Toero didn't watch him leave, he just ran up the trunk of a tree ending up on a thick branch high above the ground. For some time he stood silently, but then a low growl escaped his throat and his fingers dug into the tree bark, leaving long gashes as the hand slid down.


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter 40

"He is not a morning person, now is he?" Tenten leaned over to Sakura when she saw Naruto crawl out of his tent and move towards the river in a manner more resembling a zombie.

"Actually it depends. Sometimes he jumps up like if he is on fire, but that is if he has some kind of training ahead of him, or anything else that might keep him interested."

"Oh, I see." Tenten watched as Naruto approached the river, got down on all four and simply lowered his head into the water, effectively washing the sleepiness away.

"Yes, now I am ready for our mission!" Naruto stood up with his bright smile once more present on his face and water streaming down.

"Man, that is like a transformation jutsu." Tenten laughed noticing how Naruto's whole body language changed after his cold wake up call.

Asuma gave them some time to eat whatever was left from the evening, gather up their stuff and soon the group was once more on the move. Hinata was ordered to scan the area with her byakugan, paying special attention to the opposite side of the river, after all technically that was enemy territory. Still, so far it was quiet.

"Asuma-sensei, there are remains of a wooden bridge up ahead, from what I can say, it was burned down only recently." Hinata reported.

"Burned bridge?" Sasuke turned to the Hyuga girl.

"That was the feudal army." Toero explained. "This river is too wide and dangerous to cross without a bridge or specialized ninja training, thus it makes an excellent natural defense line."

"Right." Asuma nodded. "There is only one large stone bridge across this river. After destroying all other bridges, the feudal army forced the rebel forces to gather all in one place."

"Hn, a narrow bridge, using such place as a field of battle will destroy any advantage in numbers the rebels have." Sasuke nodded, admitting that this was a very good strategy.

"So, the feudal army, what is it like?" Naruto asked.

"Didn't you listen to anything in the academy?" Sakura rolled her eyes. "Fine, listen. The core of the army is made up of samurai, though don't mistake them with the samurai forces from the land of iron."

"Hmm, what so special about land of Iron?" Naruto asked.

"Not now, we have the local feudal army as our topic right now." Sakura sent Naruto an irritated glance. "Anyway, as I said the samurai are the core, but they are not nearly numerous enough for such large scale fighting, so the feudal lord has the right to assemble the ashigaru, basically trained militia."

"Oh, I get it." Naruto nodded with a grin. The way the feudal army was organized was typical for the non shinobi military forces. They relied more on numbers than on the individual skill of any combatant, or the well organized cooperation of small shinobi teams. Large armies was a force to be reckoned with, but such armies created serious problems with logistics, after all feeding and moving around large groups of people was a difficult task and the supply lines always were the most vulnerable part. For that reason Shikamaru's mission was so important, as without stable supply lines there was little hope for the main force of the feudal army to make it in time. Asuma's team had to help the available forces buy time until the arrival of the main army. In other words the whole campaign greatly depended on the success of the two shinobi teams.

"A large military camp up ahead. I see the banner of the feudal lord." Hinata reported after several hours of traveling.

"Those must be our allies. Everyone keep quiet, we will first have to find the commander and report to him." Asuma spoke.

"Whoah, big camp." Naruto said looking at the mass of tents and simple watch towers. It was without a doubt a military camp, considering how well it was organized and the moment the group got closer several armed men ran up to them. All of them were armed with spears or naginatas and were wearing the typical gear of the ashigaru soldiers, the dou armor and conical jingasa hats.

"Halt, who are you. This territory is held by the forces of the feudal army of the land of fire!"

"We are a team of konoha shinobi. We were sent here to reinforce you." Asuma held up his hands in a peace gesture. The soldiers lowered their weapons , but still looked at the ninjas with suspicion.

"Ninjas, huh. Some of you nowhere near old enough to fight in a war."

"We ninjas are forced to mature early." Asuma said with a smile, while some of the genin began openly glaring at the man who doubted their skills.

"Yeah, I heard that ninjas are weird folk. Fine, I'll take you to see lord Shinzi. Follow me."

"Don't tell me, you wanted to smack him once or twice too." Naruto looked at the young Uchiha who didn't answer, but the annoyed twitch of his eyes was all the proof Naruto needed that he was right.

As the ninjas walked through the camp they could hear whispers as the soldiers openly stared at the passing group. Whatever activity there was, it stopped as the soldiers turned to look at the ninjas. Of course the people around began to quietly talk among themselves, but most of them were not aware that ninjas generally had much keener hearing.

" ….. leaf ninjas, I wonder ….. "

" ….. maybe we have a chance …."

"… kind of young …"

"… heard ninjas are tough …"

"… all the help we can get …"

"… pink? Seriously? I mean …. "

Tenten fought down a laugh when she saw the only female of team seven go red. She wasn't sure if it was from embarrassment or anger, but most likely both. Still it was no surprise that to the soldiers Sakura seemed as the least dangerous of the group. The girl actually had nothing threatening about her.

"My lord, a group of people have arrived, they claim to be leaf ninjas." The soldier peaked into the tent and after a moment motioned for the ninjas to walk in. Inside was a man with short fuzzy beard wearing high quality samurai armor.

"I am Sarutobi Asuma and I am in charge of this ninja team."

"Leaf ninjas? Fine, we can use you." The man spoke in a low voice. "I am not sure how useful you are, but whatever. If the feudal lord thinks I need you, then alright. I am commander Shinzi." The man spoke in a manner that clearly said that he wasn't thrilled to have ninjas among his forces. Most likely he was willing to tolerate him, because his situation wasn't the easiest one.

"What are our orders, Shinzi-san?" Asuma asked. It didn't seem that he cared about the commander's opinion on them.

"Look here." The commander motioned Asuma to approach the table and unrolled a map. "The rebel forces have not arrived yet, but their vanguard has already crossed the bridge and is holding land on our side of the river. We need to crush them before the arrival of the main rebel force as we will not be able to hold our own in a battle that will take place in the open field."

"What is our role?"

"Well, if you are as good as I've been told, you will spearhead the charge."

"Hmm." Asuma narrowed his eyes. "It should be fruitful to send out someone to take out their sentries. A surprise attack will save us unnecessary casualties."

"As long as the task gets done. The attack is planned to begin at sunset. You may go prepare." Shinzi waved his hand dismissing the ninjas.

…..

The ninjas began settling in, while discussing the task before them.

"Don't get me wrong, but if I understand correctly we are going to attack a force several hundred strong?" Sasuke asked while helping Naruto to set up their tent.

"Yeah, that's right." Asuma nodded. "But we will not just barge in, people get killed using that strategy."

"We should try and disorganize their defenses. Should the enemy fail to set up a stable defense they will be quickly overwhelmed." Shino suggested.

"I agree with the Aburame." Toero nodded.

"Good, that more or less reflects my idea." Asuma nodded. "We will come in quietly and strike where it hurts. Remember, no unnecessary heroics or bravado, we get in, do our jobs and stay alive. Not listen carefully, here is what I've got."

…..

The shore was held by a force of around 400 rebels. They were mostly low rate mercenaries, but some had considerable battle experience. Either way they have dug in, constructing a small palisade in order to hold this side of the bridge and to ensure that their army would be able to cross the river undisturbed. So far the feudal army made no attempt to get rid of them and the rebel forces would arrive any day now.

"Man, this is boring." One of the mercenaries yawned and leaned over the palisade. The place was as quiet as always and he didn't even understand the purpose of him being here. He could be elsewhere, doing something worth his while, after all he didn't sign up for this.

"Hmppf." A hand shot out, crushing the windpipe of the unfortunate mercenary, pulling him further over the palisade and not allowing him to scream. A moment later and another hand wrapped around the neck, followed by something snapping inside and the body went limp. It was then quickly pulled and thrown down, so that nobody would notice the body. Toero looked down and motioned to Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke to approach. The genin immediately got to work setting up explosive tags in order to create a breach in the palisade for the feudal forces to move in through. Asuma led another group that would create a breach from another direction. This would force the rebels to spread their forces trying to fend off an attack from two sides. Toero in the mean time pulled up his bow, aiming at the mercenary archer stationed nearby, but facing away from them. A moment later and he fell off the palisade with an arrow in the back of his head. His died before he even realized he was hit. While the genin worked he kept taking out lone sentries, making the rebel position as vulnerable as it could get.

"Alright, Uchiha, give the signal." Toero again met up with the genin who moved to the side, away from the section of the palisade they prepared to blow up. Sasuke nodded and flashed through handseals before launching a fireball into the air. There was no missing such a signal. Immediately the feudal forces appeared from their hiding places and charged forward with a battle cry. As they covered half the ground between them and the palisade Sakura detonated the tags. The effect was quite spectacular, as the explosion easily created a large enough breach. Moments later another explosion came from the other side.

"Move, strike to kill." The ninja rushed inside. The mercenaries were only starting gathering and some were on the ground knocked down by the blast wave.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto created enough copies to engage the nearby mercenaries in bitter fighting and even through his clones were taken out one by one, they made great distractions and usually knocked out or seriously wounded at least one or two opponents before exploding into puff of smoke.

"Watch your back, dobe!" Sasuke appeared blocking a strike from a naginata and then slicing the weapon in half. He then kicked the enemy in the chest, knocking him over and thrust the blade down into the throat.

"Little bastard!" Sasuke looked up and saw a large man with a club, preparing to squash him, but the sharingan allowed the Uchiha to avoid a strong, but reckless strike. He then saw how the man got several kunai into his chest, before slumping down with blood coming from his mouth.

"You could follow your own advice, teme." Naruto scowled as he and Sasuke went fighting back to back.

"Shoot them!" both genin saw how a dozen rebel archers lined up, preparing to shower them in arrows and considering the short range, dodging would be nearly impossible. Without hesitation the rebels released a volley, but to Naruto's and Sasuke's surprise they missed badly, hitting their own troops nearby.

"Great work, Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned when he saw his teammate standing with her hands in a seal. Her genjutsu proved quite effective when used correctly.

"Just kill this guy!" a mercenary charged at Toero, who silenced the man by shooting an arrow through his head. The already dead body dropped not far from several others that tried attacking the archer. One tried attacking from behind, but a slash from a sword was blocked by the bow and Toero then threw the man over his head. He never allowed him to get up as he simply stomped on the man's neck, breaking it.

"Fire style: Fireball jutsu!" Sasuke spat out a fireball and two men in front of him caught fire, the air getting filled with the disgusting scent of burning flesh. Sasuke frowned at the image, but he expected nothing else, after all he knew what fire could do to a man.

"Fight me, shinobi scum!" the Uchiha spun around and saw a man in samurai armor challenge him. "Lets test your skills as a swordsman against that of a true warrior!"

"Hn!" Sasuke took a step forward, while his opponent charge. Sasuke ducked under a slash and lashed out with a strike of his own, the blade moving in a wide arc so fast that it left an afterimage.

"Ha, you think ….. " the rebel swordsman smirked, but then saw his opponent disappear in a puff of smoke.

"Dance of the crescent moon!"

The swordsman never said anything else as he fell over, head rolling off his shoulders, revealing Sasuke standing behind him with a neutral expression.

"Wind style: Great breakthrough!" members of team seven saw how over a dozen mercenaries flew through the air, screaming from both pain and fear.

"Everyone alright?" Asuma appeared followed by the rest of their group. He looked around and saw that the feudal soldiers were finishing up the job, the remaining mercenaries surrendering as it was clear that otherwise they would be cut down mercilessly. From the beginning their defense was rather chaotic and was broken down into several islands of defense isolated from each other.

"Yeah, we are fine, Asuma-sensei." Naruto massaged his jaw as he got hit by something he couldn't remember what. Sasuke noticed he had a shallow cut below his knee, but otherwise they seemed unharmed. The fight overall was very brief, but bloody. Still without a doubt it would've cost the feudal forces much more men if they tried taking the position without ninja support.

"Hmm, I guess you ninjas have your uses." Shinzi appeared being flanked by two gruff looking samurai. He stepped over a beheaded body left by Sasuke and looked around. Judging by his perfectly clean armor he never participated in the fighting. That wasn't necessarily a sign of cowardice. Of course a leader charging the enemy line together with his troops was an inspiration. On the other hand a reckless leader could easily be killed and leave his army leaderless. It was a delicate balance and without a doubt in this particular battle his men didn't need his presence to boost their morale.

Shinzi looked around once more, his eyes landing on Shino for a moment as the young Aburame called back his bugs that came buzzing and disappeared into the sleeves of his coat. The picture sent shivers down the commander's spine.

"I guess you ninja earned some rest. My men will secure the area, you have no need to be here. I will send for you once the need for your skills will arise."

"Understood." Asuma nodded. Shinzi didn't show it, but his tone no longer was as dismissing as it was before. If anything ninjas proved their usefulness and Shinzi was a pragmatic commander and he also respected power.

…

"Heh, we were great, those guys didn't know what hit them." Naruto grinned sitting by the fire with a bowl of stew.

"Y-yes, our attack was ….. surprisingly effective." Hinata nodded, her cheeks getting red. She didn't know how on earth she ended up sitting next to Naruto, but somehow it happened.

"Surprisingly, no surprise there, we are just awesome. Ha, I liked when that palisade went 'boom' and …. "

"Here, you are easier to tolerate when you ear, because then you do not produce nearly as much noise." Naruto found his mouth filled with a spoonful of stew courtesy of Sasuke.

"Hot, hot, hot!" Naruto gulped down the food and began searching for his flask an eagerly pouring half of it down his throat. "Oh yeah, that was better. What is the big idea, teme?!"

"Hn. Try to act more like a ninja."

"Try acting less as an ass!" Naruto objected.

"They never stop that?" Tenten leaned to Sakura who shook her head being somewhat quiet after the battle.

"You feeling alright?'

"Yes, of course, why wouldn't eye?" Sakura smiled, but you didn't have to be an expert to see how fake it was. "You finished? I'll take our bowl and wash them." Sakura said and quickly walke d off towards a nearby creek. Tenten looked a bit puzzled. Lately when she was talking with someone they tended to walk off leaving her feeling guilty and if Toero wasn't someone who would openly discuss things, then Sakura was a different story, so Tenten decided to follow. She found the younger girl by creek scrubbing her own hands.

"Errr … "

"It won't come off, I still feel it." Sakura said not looking away from her hands.

"Oh." Tenten settled down next to Sakura. "I myself threw my first time."

"I did too, when nobody was looking." Sakura admitted.

"It will never come off, trust me, I know. Being forced to live with this is a part of our job."

"I don't know what to think about it."

"Don't think about it, it is not healthy. If you keep thinking about it you will have nightmares, you will feel sick and dirty."

"Personal experience."

"Yeah. Gai-sensei talked to me about it. I think that was the first time he didn't act like a clown ranting about youth all the time." Tenten smiled.

"So you just … forget?"

"You can't, won't work, if you are a human that is. You just live with it and accept it as a part of you."

"Not the best part."

"Sometimes we are guardians, sometimes we are killers. Ninjas are not innocent, our path is always a bloody one no matter what we do. That is just the world we live in. So, think you will be alright?"

"Yeah thanks. I guess I needed something to tell me things I already knew."

"Heh, you are taking it better than I did. Lets go, before your teammates get worried, I don't fancy Naruto running around looking for you and Sasuke glaring at him with that sharingan of his. He is creepy."

"Sasuke-kun is not creepy! He is mysterious."

"In his case, same thing apparently." Tenten concluded noticing how Sakura got back to her usual self.


	41. Chapter 41

Chapter 41

The little town of Tonivo despite it's small size was a strategically important location. The reason was simple, it was located at the crossroads that could be used to send supplies in nearly every part of the country. In other words it was a key element of the local infrastructure. Since the town always had numerous caravans moving through it, then no wonder that it was filled with small hotels and taverns that offered a meal and a bed to the travelers, provided they had enough money to pay. Basically anyone could find a place to stay.

But Shikamaru's team would only have the chance to seek a place to rest after meeting the local military commander. The local feudal force set up a military camp not far from the town in order to be able to use it as the centre of their supply lines.

"Lord Azuari is waiting for you." A man in samurai armor motioned the ninjas to step into the commanders tent.

"Ahh, Konoha ninjas, you are most welcome, I've been expecting you." The ninjas were greeted by a rather short man in his late fifties who had a soft pleasant smile on his face, though his eyes had a certain glow in them that betrayed the old age.

"This is my second in command Ushimaru Shagi. We've just been discussing the situation so you arrived in quite a good time." Azuari motioned to another, much younger man standing nearby. Unlike his commander, Ushimaru greeted the ninjas with a cold glare and silence. He seemed to study them for a moment before turning back to his commander.

"My lord, I still say that my men are more than capable to handle these ….. attacks that we've been dealing with. All we need is just a bit of time and …. "

"We've discussed this already, Ushimaru. Please, don't take it as any sign of mistrust towards you, but these ninjas here came under the request of the feudal lord himself and thus we have no room to discuss this. We both swore an oath of loyalty and we will fulfill the wishes of our lord."

"Yes, of course." Ushimaru nodded and took a step back.

"Besides, you've had plenty of time to solve the problem, but I have seen no results yet. So, I think some fresh help would do us good. So ninjas, I understand that we have much to discuss, but I prefer to know your names first."

"Alright." Shikamaru nodded with a sigh. Since he was the highest ranking ninja and the team leader it was his job to introduce his teammates to the client. "I am Shikamaru Nara, team leader for this mission. With me are Ino Yamanaka, Chouji Akimichi, Neji Hyuga and Kiba Inuzuka. Our team was especially formed in order to deal with this mission as this will be a more ….. delicate matter to handle than a mere brawl."

"Yes, yes, you are absolutely right and I am pleased to meet you all, I just hope that you will solve our current problem"

"We will do our best, but lord hokage gave us only the most basic information."

"I see. Well, you obviously know that our mission here is to ensure that the main feudal army gets supplies in time in order to keep moving. It is a hard job to supply thousands of men with food every day, not to mention feeding the horses, taking care of the sick and wounded, delivering messages and so on."

"Let me guess, the lines are to stretched to protect adequately." Neji offered with a neutral look.

"Hn, you think … "

"Not now Ushimaru, the young ninja is after all correct. The situation made our current position quite vulnerable. The enemy is using it. They know the terrain, especially the swamps and woods to the north and east and that means that two main roads basically go through hostile territory."

"What have you done to protect the supplies?" Shikamaru asked.

"At first we tried increasing soldier escort, but that only resulted in more casualties. Then Ushimaru tried organizing false caravans, but those got through without any trouble as if ….. "

"As if the enemy knew who to attack. Information is also a weapon, provided you know how to wield it." Shikamaru nodded.

"Preposterous. Only a handful of my men knew that about that plan and I would trust them with my life." Ushimaru said. "Not something I can say about any of you, ninjas."

"Enough. Ushimaru, this is no way to address our allies and I don't care about what happened years ago, that is the past."

"Is there something we need to know?" Neji tilted his head. Perhaps Shikamaru was the team leader, but Neji being the most experienced ninja among them had an unofficial position of Shikamaru's second in command. The Nara actually appreciated his input as some things came only with experience.

"No, it does not concern you." Ashimaru scowled.

"Well, to a degree …. "

"My lord!"

"Fine, but only if you start acting accordingly. These shinobi are here to help and I expect you to provide them with everything they might need."

"Yes, I understand."

"Then we will start as soon as we settle in. It is best we stay in town, just in case. We will require the reports and maps to study in order to form a plan. Oh and Ino will have a 'talk' with those people you mentioned, Ashimaru-san."

"Talk?"

"Well, lets say she will take a peak in their heads. No harm will be done."

"My men have nothing to hide, but I will not subject them to any ninja techniques just to rule out these pointless accusations."

"Nobody is accusing anyone of anything." Shikamaru sighed. "Yet."

"Ashimaru, organize everything."

"Yes, my lord." The young warrior clearly wanted to object, but didn't dare to spear against his commander whose position on the matter was quite clear.

….

It was said that the mind of another was a mystery. For most that was so, but for a Yamanaka nothing was further from truth. Members of the Yamanaka family were often called mind walkers or mind readers and often worked as interrogators or infiltrators as they could use the body of their own enemy easily walk among their enemies without raising any suspicion. This made the Yamanakas stand out as they operated in the field where few could offer any substantial resistance.

Being the daughter of the current head of the Yamanaka family meant that Ino had access to many prized techniques, or rather would be. The jutsus used by her family require substantial knowledge of human psychology and a great deal of mental discipline, something that Inoichi admitted his daughter currently lacking. But even if the more complex techniques were still beyond Ino, she was more than capable of diving into the mind of a person who had no ninja training.

"Done." Ino opened her eyes and pulled her hands away from the forehead of a gruff looking samurai, who got up the moment she broke the jutsu. Ino found nothing that would suggest that this man, or anyone else had something to do with the attacks. She spent half the day working, but found nothing. Chouji was sent with her just in case and was bored out of his mind.

"Well?"

"Nil." Ino sighed. "I guess that Ushimaru really knows his men."

"Oh well, I bet Shikamaru and Neji will figure something out or maybe Kiba will find something." Chouji shrugged. Kiba and Akamaru were looking around hoping to pick anything using their sense of smell. There was little chance of them finding anything, but the very least it kept the young Inuzuka occupied.

The hotel Shikamaru chose as their temporary base wasn't fancy, but it wasn't a rundown place either. It provided service adequate for the pay demanded and the ninja team had a limited budget. After all ninjas didn't need luxury beyond a roof over their heads and even that in some cases was not a requirement. Ino though frowned in distaste as she noticed that the place wasn't cleaned very often.

"Anything?" Shikamaru looked up once Ino and Chouji walked in.

"No. Hope you are happy, I've just spent half of my day looking through the minds of some brutes. You won't believe the tings these guys do sometimes, especially when drunk and …"

"Hmm, this seems out of place." Neji approached Shikamaru.

"Hey, I was talking you know." Ino looked at Neji.

"What a drag." Shikamaru sighed rubbing his face. "Ino, once you said you didn't find anything it became to troublesome to listen to your rant."

"Excuse me, ranting? I am a lady, ladies don't rant."

"You were ranting." Neji spoke without turning to her. "So following your conclusion, you are no lady."

"Hmpf. Whatever." Ino declared and sat down looking angry.

"As I was saying, this bit here looks out of place. Look, one of those false caravans was attacked several days ago."

"Isn't that actually a good thing?" Chouji asked. "It means they fell for the trap."

"It falls out of the main picture. If something stands out, it requires investigating." Shikamaru explained. "Let me check. Hmm … "

"What?" Ino approached her teammates forgetting about her irritation for the moment.

"There is always an official written order when a caravan is formed, but nothing is dated to the day this particular one set out."

"So let me get this straight. A false caravan was formed and was attacked, but nobody ordered it to be formed?" Ino asked.

"More like we don't know who ordered it. This is too much of a coincidence to be a simple mistake in the reports."

"What do we know about the attack?" Neji asked.

"Right. Look, they were attacked near these woods over here, one of the typical spots for the ambush." Shikamaru pointed at the spot on the map while looking through the report to make sure he got it right. "Since the false caravan had extra soldiers, many posing as civilians, the attack was fended off, through at the cost of many casualties. The reports lacks any further details."

"Doesn't makes sense. The only time there was any measure of success, but it appears that the caravan basically appeared out of nowhere, nobody ordering it to be formed."

"Lets go find Kiba and talk to Ushimaru-san."

…

"Damn ninjas." Ushimaru was just setting down for dinner, when he was told that the Konoha ninjas request his presence. For a moment the young warrior simply considered telling the ninjas to get lost, but he had a direct order to cooperate with the shinobi. After a moment Ushimaru got up with a sigh.

"So, what do you want from me?"

"Well, his personality sure didn't improve." Ino muttered addressing nobody in particular. The guy simply irritated her to no end with his rude tone.

"Do you remember this caravan?" Shikamaru handed Ushimaru the report. The high ranking samurai glanced over it and nodded.

"Yeah, I issued an order."

"There is no order. Only the report about the results, but nothing on how or when it was formed."

"What nonsense are you speaking? I remember that particular caravan, the rebels actually fell for it for once. I wrote that order personally and gave it to Miho, one of my officers."

"I thought I had the pleasure of searching through the heads of all of your officers." Ino remarked. "There was nobody named Miho there."

"That is because he died during that attack you stupid girl." Ushimaru scowled. Ino really wanted to make the guy regret his words, but Neji shook his head. The young Hyuga was an intimidating figure and Ino decided to swallow her pride for now.

"Hmm." Shikamaru looked up with a bored expression. "I guess we will go find his corpse then." Shikamaru declared.

"I don't know what you are trying to find, shinobi, but if you are willing to waste time, go ahead. Just try not to get killed out there." Ushimaru sput around and walked off in order to finally enjoy his meal.

….

"Ughh, why are we here?" Ino covered her mouth and nose in a futile attempt to fight the horrible stench of death. It was about an hour until the sunset by the time the ninjas reached their destination. The soldiers brought back the wounded, but didn't risk staying in the hostile territory long enough to bury the dead. As the result the area was covered with corpses of both rebels and feudal soldiers.

"You think you have it bad?" Kiba's sensitive nose was driving him nuts.

"How do we identify anyone in this state?" Chouji asked for once loosing his appetite. Actually he looked quite ready to part with his dinner.

"Neji, try locating a corpse in samurai armor wearing officers regalia." Shikamaru turned to the Hyuga who immediately activated his bloodline.

"Man, I will never get used to how freaky your eyes look when you do that." Ino said, but Neji didn't comment on that. He was concentrated on the task. The first thing he noted that this was indeed the field of the dead, no sign of chakra outside his own and those of his teammates.

"There." Neji pointed at the turned over wagon. There was indeed a body there, crushed under the heavy wagon. Judging by the expensive samurai armor this was indeed one of Ushimaru's men. If anything his samurai were very well equipped.

"Chouji, get rid of this thing." Shikamaru ordered and the young Akimichi stepped forward. His family jutsu was perfect for such tasks as his hands seemed to increase in size to the level where he could throw the heavy wagon away with a single swing of his now massive fist.

"Lets see now." Shikamaru kneeled next to the body. Now he had direct access to the pouch attached to the belt of the dead samurai. He didn't fancy touching the dead body, but with a quick move sliced the thing off with a kunai. He pulled back and opened the pouch.

"Well?" Ino asked.

"Found it."

….

"What you are trying to tell me is utter nonsense. It is completely impossible." Ushimaru raised his voice. "I refuse to believe it."

"If you have other explanations, I am all ears." Shikamaru replied calmly.

"This has got to be some mistake. I mean ….. "

"Yes?"

"Listen, it might look suspicious, but this is simply impossible." Ushimaru again looked over the written order the ninjas brought him. He recognized his own handwriting and his own signature. It was a very typical military document, outside one small detail. Once Ushimaru issued an order he would give to the officer in charge. The officer then would take it to commander Azuari in order to get his signature. After that the officer would start on his assignment. The problem was that this particular report was missing Azuari's signature.

"Why? This explains everything. The solders view these paperwork matters as a mere formality. Your officer, Miho, simply forgot about the commanders signature and nobody even bothered with it. Thus there was only one person in the chain of command who didn't know that there was a false caravan formed. This explains why the rebels actually attacked it. Nobody informed them about this caravan being a trap."

"I've known Azuari for several years. His loyalty is beyond question." Ushimaru spoke, though now looked unsure himself. "He served with my father, they were best friends until my father ….. "

"What happened?"

"You ninjas happened along with your war! Nobody cares if you kill each other, but my family had nothing to do with your stupid war. Azuari took me in after ….. "

"That explains your opinion on us, but unless you have other way to explain this I am afraid we will have to consider lord Azuari as our primary suspect."

"And what will you do? Openly accuse him of treason? That even sounds laughable. He is a respected member of the nobility, you can't throw around accusation of treason based on some slip of paper that for some reason misses his signature."

"We are aware of that." Neji nodded from his spot.

"Yes and that is why we came to you."

"Hah, if you think I will help you to accuse lord Azuari, then you are …. "

"If you are so convinced of his innocence, why join us? You will either prove that you are right, or expose him as a traitor. Your call."

There was heavy silence as Ushimaru struggled over his decision. Agreeing to this would mean that he actually doubted lord Azuari, the man who was the closest thing he now had to a family, but not acting would mean betraying his oath to the feudal lord.

"Fine. I will participate in this nonsense and once you will be proved wrong, I will personally make you pay for this insult."

"If you will prove us wrong." Shikamaru said and Ushimaru frowned. "Remember, as you said we can't easily accuse a high ranking noble of treason. But you are his equal, socially at least. If it turns out we are right, you will have to carry out your duty."

…

Everyone knew, that commander Azuari had a habit of inspecting the sentry posts personally. There was no worse fate as to be caught by the commander asleep on your post. If anything Azuari maintained strict discipline among his troops. Often Azuari inspected the posts at night, moving around alone in order to not warn those who gave in into the temptation of dozing off. Fear of retribution made many stay awake despite long and boring shifts.

But since everyone knew about that habit nobody suspected anything when Azuari left the camp alone. Everyone just assumed he would go on his usual inspection again. In reality Azuari used the cover of the darkness to reach the nearby hills. He stopped by a small creek and waited, but not for long as another figure appeared, wearing a long dark cloak.

"I heard about the ninjas."

"They know nothing. If they get too close I will set up someone to take the blame."

"Good. Hand it over then, the less we stay here the better."

"Here, as usual." Azuari handed something over to the dark figure and they prepared to part ways without anything else said.

"Aghhh!"

"I …. I can't move."

"Yeah. The moon isn't that bright tonight, but I work with what I have." A lazy voice came from the side, neither Azuari nor his dark companion could move their heads in order to look at the ninja who trapped them using his shadow jutsu.

"Nobody else around." Neji appeared. His byakugan saw nothing else of interest.

"What is the meaning of this?" Azuari demanded, still unable to move. He though saw Chouji knock out the man in the cloak and proceed to tie him up with Kiba's help, who carefully studied the scent with Akamaru in order to trail the guy back to the rebel base.

"Lord Azuari." Ushimaru appeared with his blade drawn. "I accuse you of treason." The young man spoke in a firm tone, but in the darkness nobody saw his tears.


	42. Chapter 42

Chapter 42

Now that the feudal forces had secured a much better position they could only wait for the arrival of the rebel army and prepare for the upcoming battle. The recent small victory also served the purpose of raising the morale of the soldiers, who now looked forward to the battle with obvious faith in their own abilities, their commander and the ninja reinforcements that were so effective during the engagement. Still the ninjas were generally considered dangerous and for a good reason. The soldiers were happy that they had such allies, but it didn't mean that they were willing to be anywhere near them without need. This situation made some of the genin feel awkward, as back in Konoha the common folk had no fear of the shinobi.

"Shino-kun … umm …. where is everybody?" Hinata looked around their small camp in confusion. The only person present in the morning was her teammate, who handed her a small bowl of rise as breakfast.

"Asuma-sensei took Tenten in order to scout the area as the means to prepare for the battle. Toero and team seven went to train I believe."

"Oh, I see." Hinata accepted the food. She for a moment wondered why Asuma took Tenten, but then again if one had a choice between the weapon mistress and the archer, the choice was fairly obvious, as Toero had a tendency of keeping those around him on edge. Only members of team seven seemed relatively comfortable around him, being used to his harsh personality.

"We will not benefit from staying in the camp. I propose we join team seven in training. This might improve our cooperation in the future." Shino said in his usual monotone and Hinata nodded. She ate quickly, but not sloppily. It was frowned upon in the Hyuga clan to waste food, especially during mission, but sluggish eating was also not approved of. Thus the two genin were soon ready to join their comrades in morning training. The area around was filled with open spaces suitable for active ninja training and it wasn't hard to locate Toero and team seven currently engaged in a taijutsu battle with the genin opposing the archer.

"Let us observe, for now." Shino said. His voice didn't betray any emotion, but Hinata could tell that he had some interest in the training regime of the other genin team.

"Your pattern is repetitive." Toero ducked under Sasuke's kick and the young Uchiha found himself rolling on the ground. So far Toero was only on defensive, the genin giving him a hard time. The rules were simple, taijutsu only, though Sasuke was permitted to use his sharingan, which didn't help him a moment ago.

"Gotcha!" Naruto slid on the ground ready to ram his feet into Toero, but his target reacted in time and rolled out of the way, avoiding the attack. Toero ended up behind Naruto, who barely managed to block a punch, but the strike made Naruto wince in pain. Still, he grabbed onto Toero's hand keeping him in place, while Sakura appeared from behind aiming a spin kick Toero's back. Unfortunately the Archer leaned away from the strike and pulled Naruto in his place and a moment later the blonde genin fell to the ground as Sakura's leg connected with his face. The result surprised and shocked the pink haired kunoichi, who didn't react when Toero sent her flying back with a swift kick.

"Sakura!" Sasuke grabbed Sakura's stretched hand while she was in mid air and swung her around. She immediately understood his plan and used the momentum to slam both her feet into Toero's chest, knocking the archer down on his back.

"Impressive combination." Shino stated. The taijutsu battle went on for a while longer, with the genin scoring a couple of more strikes against Toero, but not without being forced to eat dirt a couple of times themselves and if Sasuke and Sakura took time to regain their breath, Naruto barely seemed winded.

"Uchiha, use more variety in your approaches. Your attacks are getting painfully predictable unless you are cooperating with your teammates."

"Got it." Sasuke nodded.

"Haruno, be more observant of your surroundings unless it was your goal to harm your teammate. Then again, good combined effort between you and the Uchiha."

"Sorry, Naruto." Sakura turned to the blonde who rubbed his jaw. Sakura didn't look strong, but when she kicked, she kicked hard.

"Ahh, don't worry, Sakura-chan, you know me, this is nothing." Naruto grinned.

"We have guests." Sasuke pointed back with his thumb at Shino and Hinata who were now walking towards them.

"We apologize if we interrupted anything, but it could be fruitful for us to train together." Shino said.

"I like that idea." Naruto smiled. "I know that training with Hinata is great, she is awesome!"

"Eep!" Hinata suddenly went red, hiding a bit behind her teammate.

"Sure, why not." Sakura shrugged.

"Hn."

"Did that 'hn' mean yes, or no, or maybe?" Naruto turned to Sasuke.

"Whatever."

"That didn't answer my question!" Naruto fumed.

"Enough wasting time." Toero spoke. "Uzumaki, pull-ups."

"Damn." Naruto cursed, but went over to the tree followed by Sasuke and Sakura. The blonde walked up the tree trunk finding a nice thick branch high above the ground and grabbed it. Shino and Hinata watched this with some confusion, wondering why Naruto grumbled over such a simple exercise. They got their answers when Sakura and Sasuke both jumped up grabbing onto Naruto's feet, adding their weight and only then the blonde began doing pull-ups, grunting from the effort.

"Shut it dobe, maybe you will not be so short." Sasuke smirked.

"You keep that up and you will be doing pushups with Gamabunta on your back." Naruto snapped back as he pulled up himself and his two teammates.

"That is ….. unusual." Shino's eyebrows appeared over his glasses, while Hinata paled. That looked more like a torture than any kind of training.

"Hyuga and Aburame." Toero looked over the two genin and Hinata felt incredibly uncomfortable under his gaze. "You come from famous ninja clans. I suspect you share the common flaw of completely relying on your clan techniques. That is your greatest weakness that can easily be exploited."

"I request more specifics." Shino asked.

"Knowing what clan you come from I can easily guess your combat styles and act accordingly. An unknown ninja has an advantage of always being a puzzle. Your reactions to attacks, your possible counters, your abilities and techniques are fairly predictable."

"I ….. "

"Speak up, Hyuga."

"I am working on ….. a modification to my clan taijutsu style. It needs work, but I am trying."

"hmm?" Toero clearly didn't expect that. The Hyugas had a reputation of being very conservative when it came down to their clan technique and often opposed innovations.

"I was unaware of that." Shino turned to his teammate, but Hinata didn't say anything else.

"What exactly are you trying to achieve, Hyuga?"

"Umm, a less direct approach. I prefer t-to …. avoid attacks instead of … blocking."

"Evaisive defense against a piercing offense. This requires a completely different mindset, fighting rhythm and training system. Flexibility and reaction time are required for something like this to work. Uchiha, get over here!"

"Thank you!" Naruto sighed when he no longer felt Sasuke attached to his leg.

"What?" Sasuke asked with mild interest.

"You will train with the Hyuga. Attack in close quarters, but without the sword. The Hyuga will try to dodge and avoid you … without using the byakugan."

"W—without?" Hinata asked.

"I will explain." Sasuke offered. "Come."

"As for you Aburame, you will work with me on your stealth. Since your combat relies on you staying out of trouble, it should be useful for you to … "

"Aghgh!" Naruto's hands finally slipped and he fell down on the ground with a loud crash. Sakura managed to land more or less neatly on her feet, but just barely avoided Naruto landing on her.

"Watch it where you crash!" Sakura turned to her prone teammate.

"Ow." Naruto sat up rubbing his head.

…

Hinata felt strage fighting without her byakugan activated. It almost felt unnatural and without the additional field of vision she found herself hard pressed to always keep Sasuke in her sight. He explained that one shouldn't rely on the eyes too much, even if those eyes were very special. Sasuke understood how hard it was to stop relying completely on the ocular abilities granted by an advanced bloodline. But he understood that only by training other senses one could avoid being at a disadvantage in the situation where one could counter the abilities of the sharingan or in Hinata's case byakugan.

"You are slippery." Sasuke scowled. Perhaps Hinata was not as fast or aggressive as other opponents Sasuke encountered, she moved in a way that made it hard to land a solid blow. For now she only defended herself, following Toero's instructions, but Sasuke noticed that on several occasions she avoided his strikes in a manner that left him open for counter attacks. That meant that Sasuke began to aim his strikes very carefully. Basically this was a fair trade between the two genin. While Hinata learned to dodge in a manner that suited her style, Sasuke learned to plan out his attacks in order to try and pin out down his elusive opponent. Sometimes Hinata showed that she could bend her body at almost unnatural angles in order to avoid him.

"Aghh!" Hinata finally allowed Sasuke to slid inside her guard and then the Uchiha threw her over his head, slamming the girl hard into the ground and pinning her down with her knee. The reason why Sasuke managed to finally strike was because Hinata was completely out of breath by that time. Sasuke simply outlasted her and that made him think. He achieved success not through skill, but through his higher stamina. He should really work on his taijutsu forms as even this girl was able to predict his attack patterns in a way similar to Toero, though she had a different way of countering the threat.

"We should try again." Sasuke stood up looking at Hinata and then offered his hand helping the girl get up.

"Yes, of course." Hinata nodded. She herself noticed many interesting things. One was especially noticeable, as she managed to last much longer than she usually did during training. Constant use of byakugan made her burn out quicker and even though keeping up with Sasuke without the byakugan was harder, she was able to cope. She had to learn to carefully decide when activating the byakugan was necessary and when she could handle the fight without it. This would eventually allow her to save energy and last longer in battle.

…..

"Hey, Sakura-chan, I am finished!"

"Thanks Naruto, just put it next to my backpack." Sakura said with a smile. Even though she could now make workable storage seals, Naruto still was the best among them, when it came to making those and he worked twice as fast. Somehow he also seemed to enjoy it, despite it forcing him to sit still.

"Hey Sasuke, made you one too!" Naruto rolled up the scroll when he saw Sasuke and Hinata approach. Both looked tired, but also satisfied by their training.

"Thanks." Sasuke nodded after inspecting the storage seal.

"Hey, Hinata, you need me to make storage seals for you, since while I am at it …. "

"Umm … thank you, Naruto-kun, but my clan supplies me …. with that kind of e-equipment."

"Oh." Naruto looked down a bit.

"B-but I wouldn't mind …. learning to make those." Hinata managed out.

"Great and you might later show us how to make that salve of yours."

"Yeah, I was meaning to ask you about that, Hinata." Sakura looked up from the pot as she was making dinner, though her cooking skills were far from the best. "I mean I wanted to learn some medical jutsu, but knowing how to make medicine is also useful."

"I ….. I will show you." Hinata said with a blush. Luckily for her the attention soon shifted when another pair approached. Toero silently sat down waiting from the meal, while Shino sort of slumped down next to Sasuke, his clothes dirty, his hair a total mess and a large bruise on his forehead.

"Um ….. " Hinata tilted her head and silently handed Shino a jar of her salve she had just pulled out of the inner pocket of her jacket.

"Thank you." Shino spoke accepting the medicine.

"What did he make you do?" Naruto aked with a laugh.

"He made me hide." Shino replied while applying the salve.

"Judging by the way you look he found you." Sasuke smirked. The Aburame turned to the young Uchiha and Sasuke heard the angry buzzing coming from inside the bug user, but that only made Sasuke turn away with an even more satisfied smirk.

"Toero-san made it his task to point out the flaws in my technique." Shino said with a sigh.

"I pointed out the lack of your stealth techniques, Aburame. Your breed of insects is hard to find in wild nature, is easy to identify and they are easy to trail back to you. They make decent sentries, but they will not serve the purpose of hiding your presence. I warned you not to rely on them."

"I will remember that." Shino said.

"You are also physically fragile, Sakura takes a hit better than you."

"I shall take measures in order to improve my performance." Shino said after glancing at Sakura. It was hard to believe that the pink haired girl had any measure of endurance whatsoever.

"Oh you are all here, great, saves me the trouble of finding you all." Asuma and Tenten appeared.

"I don't want to know." Tenten looked over Shino and sat down with a tired sigh.

"I more or less planned out our actions in the upcoming battle. We will discuss it over a nice hot meal." Asuma said and pulled out a cigarette out of his pack, but the thing was immediately snatched by Sakura.

"No smoking during dinner."

"Huh? Man, you are like Kurenai." Asuma frowned. "Don't smoke here, don't smoke there, don't smoke anywhere. That is the way I relax, girl."

"You are too relaxed as it is." Sakura growled.

"I never thought I'd say it, but Kakashi and his smut are better. His books don't smell at least." Sasuke noted.

"Well excuse me. Smoking isn't generally that frowned upon, unlike reading some pervy book. Since when am I worse than Kakashi?"

"You are not." Naruto grinned. "You are not chronically late."

"And you don't offer us some weird things to wear." Tenten added and shivered remembering how Gai offered her the green spandex suit. The image of herself wearing that was like a scene from a nightmare, a bad one at that.

Silence raised as everyone looked at Hinata and Shino waiting for their comment.

"I …. I am sorry ….. Kurenai-sensei isn't weird in any way." Hinata said.

"You'd be surprised." Asuma rolled his eyes. "Err, forget I said that."

"Huh? What was that?"

"I shall say nothing." Asuma shook his head cursing himself for not keeping his mouth shut. Now Kurenai was going to kill him, or make him give up on cigarettes which was worse, since Asuma could imagine being dead and not smoking, but he couldn't imagine being alive and being deprived of his cigarettes.

"Dinner ready!" Sakura declared and began passing out the bowls.

…..

"Well, here we are."

"You really think this will be profitable?"

"One way or another."

Five ninjas landed among the trees on the other side of the river. They were all quite unique. One was a large man, with long muscle covered arms. He was not wearing any shirt, revealing his mighty chest and broad shoulders. Clearly he was incredibly strong physically.

Then there were two who looked quite similar, dressed in matching clothes and with similar dark blue hair. One was a lady, if her curvy body was of any indication, while the other looked like her male version, while holding a large scimitar on his shoulder. The female was also armed, through she had a long narrow blade at her side, instead of a larger weapon her lookalike held.

The fourth was another woman with short spiky hair and a maniacal grin on her face. She sort of danced on one spot constantly as if incapable of standing still. One could say she resembled a kid who had too much sugar, unless you ruled out those eyes that had a murderous gleam in them.

In the middle stood the man with an aura of a leader. Despite not looking as impressive as some of his companions there was something about him that practically screamed of danger. His stance and his body language showed that he was like a tight spring, ready to attack at any given moment and strike without any hesitation. He also had a very unusual piece of gear for someone who was obviously a shinobi. On his back was a large oval shield that lacked any kind of detail. It looked new, the surface lacking any dents that such equipment usually had after prolonged use.

"I don't care as long as there will be bones to crush and skulls to bash." The large man slammed his large fist into his palm with enough force to create a shockwave that nearly knocked others back.

"Oh yes, yes. With foes I will play, play. Their arms will go snip, snip and over their blood I shall skip, skip." The maniacal one spoke in a strange singing manner while jumping on one foot.

"Shut up, weido." The lookalikes spoke in unison turning to the weird woman. They even had almost identical expressions on their faces.

"No need for hostilities. I thing there will be plenty of chances for us to demonstrate our abilities and make so fine coin while we are at it. I don't know why, but I smell a golden opportunity."


	43. Chapter 43

Chapter 43

"Stand guard. Nobody is to enter and nobody is to leave without my direct order. Got it?"

"Yes, lord Ushimaru!" the two feudal soldiers saluted and watched their commander walk away. A few moments he came back with the ninjas, leading a tied up lord Uzuari. He didn't explain anything, but it was clear that the young warrior had to have an incredibly good reason to imprison the commander of the local forces.

"He is not going anywhere." Ushimaru said after returning to his tent. The ninjas were already there, except for Neji and Kiba. The Inuzuka along with his partner Akamaru was busy tracking Azuari's contact back to the rebel camp using the fresh trail. Neji would be needed to scout the area using the impressive range of his byakugan to bring back the information regarding the layout of the rebel base, their defenses, overall numbers.

"Then we have time to think about our next move." Shikamaru sighed.

"Yes, of course, lets think." Ushimaru scowled and sat down behind his desk. Ino noted that the young man seemed to age considerably after the things he found out not so long ago. If before he was filled with energy, then now his whole figure seemed to deflate. Without a doubt Azuari's betrayal was an incredible blow to him and perhaps it was only the sense of duty before his men and his country that made Ushimaru go on.

"I don't really understand." Chouji frowned. "Ushimaru described lord Azuari as a very loyal person. Why would he betray their cause like this?"

"I wish I knew." Ushimaru shook his head. "I still hope that this is some kind of a mistake, or a misunderstanding, but … "

"We need to discover his motive." Shikamaru agreed. "Perhaps this is an isolated incident, but on the other hand Azuari could be a part of some sort of a conspiracy. Such high ranking nobles do not commit treason without a good reason."

"What do you think I should do? No matter what you say I will not interrogate lord Azuari, nor I will I permit information to be pulled out of him by the means of torture." Ushimaru said, his eyes for a moment regaining that spark they had before.

"I am not suggesting that. We have Ino, who can use a more delicate approach."

"Right, I forgot that your teammate deals with the matter of the mind. I am still not sure I am comfortable to allow you to perform your technique."

"This is the fastest way we have and probably the safest. Right Ino?"

"Ummm, yes, I can do that." Ino nodded after thinking it over.

"What are the dangers?" Ushimaru asked.

"Well, it is fairly easy when a person willingly allows me inside, like when I looked through the heads of your men, incredibly dirty thoughts, by the way, so eww."

"Back on the topic, Ino." Shikamaru sighed and muttered something that resembled 'troublesome'.

"Whatever, man, you are lazy. How on earth did you even become a chunin with that attitude?"

"Yamanaka-san, right now, I see why you are not chunin yet." Ushimaru raised his voice. He was in a foul mood and the blonde quickly irritated him.

"Huh? How rude, you are speaking with a lady you know." Ino said with her hands crossed on her chest, but Ushimaru only growled at that in a manner that made Ino drop her bossy attitude and return to the matter at hand.

"Fine. Azuari obviously will resist me, but he is no ninja and his mental barriers should be no problem. I'd say that the danger for him is minimal."

"Minimal? Elaborate on that." Ushimaru demanded.

"When a person fights against someone invading his mind, it creates mental strain and the more he fights, the higher is the strain. Fortunately those not trained as shinobi have relatively weak abilities of opposing such attacks. The worst your lord will suffer is one hell of a migraine, but nobody ever died of that."

"Hmm." Ushimaru leaned back. He didn't want to allow this young kunoichi to perform her mind technique on Azuari, but with such low risks it was the best option he had available. He also understood that if there was any way to get any kind of proof that Azuari was actually innocent, it was this. Ushimaru nodded to himself and walked outside of his tent. The ninjas heard him bark out several orders to the guards outside and several minutes later two armed soldiers led the still tied Azuari into the tent. Ushimaru dismissed him with a wave of his hand after the former commander was seated on one of the spare chairs.

"Ushimaru, I know how this looks, but please, listen to me. All can be explained." Azuari began not looking at the ninjas, who coldly stared at the man.

"I am afraid I can't do that. I must carry out my duty. If you are indeed innocent, then we will soon find out about it and I will gladly beg you of forgiveness on my knees. But if it will be proved that you indeed betrayed our cause … may the god have mercy on your soul. Yamanaka, you may begin when ready."

"What …. You are going to let her … No, I refuse." Azuari shook his head, itching back, away from Ino who slowly advanced on the tied up man, mentally preparing for her jutsu.

"This will be uncomfortable, but not painful and the less you oppose me, the better."

"Stay away ….. I am ….." Ino didn't listen as she pressed her fingers to the temples of Azuari's head after flashing through seals. Soon the man stopped trying to move his head and even his eyes stopped moving, as the Yamanaka and the former commander started at each other without blinking. There was clearly some sort of a struggle going on, the one you could not see or hear, but the one you could feel. It was if the air became thicker and it became harder to breath, until finally the tension disappeared and Ino released a breath of relief. Her eyes closed, while Azuari sort of slumped back in his chair.

"She is in." Shikamaru explained.

"How long will it take?" Ushimaru asked, wiping the sweat off his forehead after witnessing such a strange display. The only sign of something actually happening was that Ino's eyebrows kept moving up and down as if she was reading something with her eyes closed.

"Depends on the amount of information she will need to look through. Lets give her time."

"Yes, how about we have late supper in order to pass the time?" Chouji offered earning a sigh from Shikamaru. Ushimaru though agreed and ordered the men outside to bring something to eat for him and the shinobi present. Despite being hungry Ushimaru couldn't force anything down his throat and was forces to watch Chouji eat for three. He always thought that ninjas were supposed to be physically strong and thus maintained strict diets, but apparently he was wrong. Shikamaru though ate slowly, almost lazily, which somehow suited him.

"Umpff." Ino took a deep breath and released Azuari. She took a step back and shook her head before opening her eyes. Azuari himself was left unconscious after she released him.

"Took you longer than I expected." Shikamaru mentioned and took some more rice.

"So, what is it?" Ushimaru looked at Ino.

"Well, how do I put ….. that man is scum, beyond scum even."

"Explain yourself!" Ushimaru demanded slamming his hands against the table.

"Umm, where to begin." Ino pressed her finger against her lips thinking. "You asked about his motive, right, well, you are his motive."

"I don't understand? What does it all have to do with me?"

"You said Azuari and your father served together, right?"

"Yes, that is true. They were good friends."

"According to what Azuari told you? Actually they weren't. And your father's death was also set up by Azuari."

"This is … why? He took me in after my father died."

"Of course. You were the only heir of a very wealthy family. Far wealthier than that Azuari came from. Naturally as your guardian he had access to all the funds of your family and that is the reason you were kept alive and believing that Azuari had your best interests at heart."

"Ino, that is all very interesting, but our mission is here and now. Why did Azuari leak information to the rebel forces?" Shikamaru asked resting his chin on his palm.

"Because with Ushimaru old enough to marry and form his own family there was a danger of Azuari loosing his unconditional access to Ushimaru's family fortune. It would be quite easy to set up a death of young talented commander during some sort of skirmish. All Azuari had to do was to eventually send Ushimaru with some personal mission and give the necessary information to the rebels. Since everyone knew that Azuari was the closest thing Ushimaru had to a father, nobody would object to him inheriting the fortune and nobody would suspect him being involved in such a death. After all nobody suspected him of the death of Ushimaru's father."

"Whoah, that is low." Choiji said. He felt sad for the young warrior whose hands were trembling from anger. A moment later he leapt over the table and grabbed Azuari by his clothes, lifting him off his feet.

"You traitorous bastard. I trusted you, I loved you! How dare you!" Azuari didn't answer since he was still out cold.

"Arrghhh!" the traitorous man was thrown at the table, knocking it over and spilling the remains of the meal across the floor.

"Such a waste." Chouji grumbled.

"All these years, my whole life, is a damn lie!" Ushimaru unsheathed his sword and prepared to impale the prone man, but was stopped in the middle of a slash that was aimed at the exposed throat of the former commander.

"Let me go …. ninja." Ushimaru struggled against Shikamaru's shadow possession jutsu, but couldn't move an inch. It was a strange feeling, being unable to actually move despite being in perfect health.

"This quite troublesome, but I am afraid I can't do that. It would be best to allow the feudal lord decide his fate." Shikamaru scratched his head and Ushimaru was forced to repeat his action despite how ridiculous it looked.

"You can release me now. I will not harm him …. for now."

"You sure?"

"I give you my word and right now, my pride is the only thing I have left. I am sorry that I allowed my anger to get the best of me."

Ushimaru felt how the invisible force that held his body in place disappeared. He looked at Azuari and with a sigh sheathed his sword after taking a few calming breaths. "I would like to think now. We will talk in the morning when your teammates return. For now I need to get my thoughts in order."

"Sure, no problem." Ino said and looked at her teammates. "She could understand that after such news anyone would need time to regain his bearings. She also felt tired after performing her technique and wanted to sleep. For some reason after searching through Azuari's mind she also felt dirty and wanted a shower.

"And order the men outside to come and take … him away." Ushimaru nodded towards the still prone man wishing to have him out of his sight.

"We'll hand him over to those outside. Help me out Chouji."

"Sure." Shikamaru and Chouji easily picked up the traitor doing Ushimaru this small favor of getting the man out of his sight.

…..

"Yeah, I smell it too, we are getting closer."

Neji didn't comment on the fact that his current teammate was socializing with a dog. Sure, he knew that members of the Iuzuka clan were very close to their dog partners, but never suspected them to be so close. Neji also somehow had a hunch that the little white puppy that was Kiba's partner was the brains behind their duo. That thought somewhat amused the stoic Hyuga, but naturally he never showed it.

"Hmm, we are really close now. Me and Akamaru are picking up scents of many people. If we move any closer without preparation we might run into their sentries or local patrols."

"Agreed. I will have a look. Byakugan." Since Kiba was on one team with Hinata most of the time he was quite used to the picture of a Hyuga with an activated byakugan. That bloodline when active could even make a girl as gentle and caring as Hinata look fierce. Neji's byakugan had great range and he was confident in his ability to spot all potential threats. The main problem was that for the time being they had to conceal their presence. Several mercenary thugs were not a real threat to the trained ninjas, but alerting the enemy encampment would make all of their earlier achievements useless. Neji was not about to let their work go down the drain.

Neji also silently praised the old hokage who composed the teams. A tracker from an Inuzuka clan was an invaluable asset on such missions.

"Damn it." Neji cursed and leaned back after deactivating his ocular jutsu.

"What happened?"

"They are not taking any chances. I hate to admit it, but will not be able to slip by those patrols without getting noticed. Even under the cover of darkness."

"We could take out one patrol and use the transformation jutsu to impersonate them." Kiba suggested.

"No good, they are using a password system and they whisper it. I couldn't even red their lips."

"Damn, where is that Ino when you actually need her. She'd get the password out no problem."

"I suspect she is busy with the traitor. I am afraid advancing any further is too risky for the two of us."

"Well, for us maybe, but not for Akamaru." Kiba said proudly and the tiny puppy seemed to smirk looking at Neji. The Hyuga blinked feeling stupid.

"Alright boy, you need to blend in." Kiba instructed and the pup seemed to release an annoyed whine before moving over to some mud. Neji watched as the white dog began rolling in the mud as if laying, but the reason was clear. The snow white fur soon turned a dark shade of brown, with pieces of leaves stuck here and there. It was nearly impossible to spot the puppy in the darkness now without using the byakugan.

"Ahem, good. Akamaru, we need the layout of their camp, possible number of men and if you can, try to identify the man in charge." Neji said. He couldn't help but feel awkward giving instruction to a dog, but such was the life of a ninja. Akamaru though clearly understood, gave a low bark of acknowledgement and disappeared into some bushes.

"I guess we wait now." Kiba sighed and settle down on the ground trying to feel as comfortable as possible.

"How long do you think your ….. partner will need to bring back the needed information?"

"Not that much. Akamaru has an eye for detail and right now he is quite hard to spot. If anything he will be mistaken for some wild animal. I doubt these thugs expect a dog to spy on them."

"I can understand that." Neji admitted.

"I've been meaning to ask for a while." Kiba narrowed his eyes. "How are things between you an Hinata?"

"Why such a question?"

"Because she is my teammate and you are a jerk."

"When will you people stop calling me that?"

"Eventually. If you are lucky." Kiba tried not to laugh, but still snorted into his fist.

"Things are better between me and my cousin. You could say that we are at piece and have mutual understanding. I suppose I should mention that I regret my actions during the preliminaries."

"Hah, you should. And it only took Naruto beating you to a bloody pulp to see that."

"Uzumaki Naruto proved hard to understand. I hold no grudge for his victory, he helped me learn a valuable lesson so I am even somewhat grateful to him."

"I know what you mean. He knocked me down a peg or two too. But that was our mutual mistake. Nothing is predetermined in the life of a shinobi. If a genius can loose to the worst student ever, then who says that idiot can't become hokage? Don't get me wrong, I still would not bet my money on Naruto getting the title, but it just doesn't sound as outrageous as it once did, eh?"

"True." Neji nodded. "Uzumaki has a talent to achieve the impossible. A rare skill indeed, but it makes him into a dangerous opponent. I would like to face him in battle someday again to see if I've changed."

"So, ask him for a spar when we get back."

"No, not yet. I am not ready yet to face him again. He far outclasses me spiritually and his determination will overcome anything I can throw at him right now. But I will beat him one day and then thank him for being there to fight me."

"Maybe you will." Kiba shrugged. "It is easier for me. He beat me, I need to train and get stronger. End of the story."

"Yes, it is simpler." Neji admitted. "Just like you are."

"And you are surprised people call you a jerk? Man, when you die there will be a writing on the memorial stone, here lies Neji, the jerk."

"I do not find that amusing, Kiba."

"Am I laughing? You should learn a bit form your cousin, she is a good teammate and a good person first and a Hyuga later. That overall makes her better even if she is not as good at juuken as you. If you keep up the jerk act then the next time you fight Naruto, he will laugh at you again."

"I'll think about it." Neji closed his eyes in deep thought. He already told Hinata that she was different from him and that they would become stronger differently. But only now he began to realize that Hinata was much stronger than him as a person. She faced tragedies in her life, she suffered losses, she suffered neglect, but she remained true to herself and never broke. Neji couldn't say the same about himself. Now that he thought about people like Naruto or Hinata he realized that when compared to them, he looked pathetic.

Neji began to doze off while thinking, until he heard something move through the bushes. A moment later Akamaru appeared and jumped into Kiba's hands, also covering the Inuzuka's jacket with mud.

"Thanks a lot, buddy." Kiba muttered and Neji could've sworn that the little puppy gave his variant of a sheepish grin.


	44. Chapter 44

Chapter 44

The rebel army arrived late in the night, but didn't immediately attack. The scouts had already reported that the feudal army had annihilated the vanguard and was firmly holding the opposite end of the bridge. This meant that the rebels would have to attack along the bridge to try and punch their way out into open plain, where they would be able to overwhelm the feudal forces using their numerical superiority. But such a strategy would mean heavy casualties and without proper preparation would be simply suicidal. So it was decided to make camp and allow the men to rest and eat. Afraid of diversions the rebels also had set up sentries.

"Kinhuo-sama, you'd better see this."

"Damn, what now?" The rebel leader got up with a frown. He was about to go to sleep when one of his lieutenants rushed into the tent nearly knocking over a weapon rack. Kinhuo spread his hands, stretching the shoulders. He was a large man, easily a head taller than most and broad in shoulders. When clad in full set of samurai armor he was an intimidating figure. He also had relatively short temper, but was generous to those that served him loyally. Apparently he was also not bound by any moral principles as he waged war, allowing the mercenaries to do practically anything they wished. He himself seemed to hold some sort of a grudge against the feudal lord. Well, a grudge was putting it too mildly, it was actually borderline hatred for the men on a level where it was forbidden to even mention the name of the official ruler of the land of fire.

"There are people here, strange people."

"Now what made you think that I want to see them?"

"I think they are ninjas."

"Ninjas? Pfft, I don't care about shinobi, they are more trouble than they are worth, but fine, lets go see what they want." Kinhuo got up after grabbing his own katana. He walked out of his tent and saw a small group of people standing a small distance away surrounded by several dozen of his men. Somehow it didn't seem like the ninjas were concerned about being surrounded by strong and well armed men. Quite the opposite, they seemed relaxed, even enjoying the barely suppressed fear of the rebel fighters.

"So, what purpose do you have here? Speak up, I have little patience." Kinhuo said. Despite his rude tone the ninja in the middle stepped forward with a pleasant smile on his face. Kinhuo noted that the man was armed only with a large oval shield, not counting the shuriken and kunai holsters that were trademark weapons for shinobi of any nation. The ninjas generally used kunai and shuriken not because those were the most impressive or lethal of weapons. Quite the opposite, neither really packed that much of a punch when compared to larger weapons, but they were light, easy to handle and could be carried in large quantities. An experienced shinobi also could easily overcome their drawbacks. A well aimed shuriken could slice open the throat, a quick strike with a kunai to the temple was an instant kill. Another advantage was that kunai and shuriken were easy to make and replace after battle. Naturally those simple tools could not satisfy all of the ninjas, but they created some sort of a minimal standard for those who wanted to be called shinobi. You simply could not be a competent ninja without knowing how to properly use basic ninja tools.

"Me and my small group of colleagues would like to offer you my services. Shinobi of our level can be a great asset to a man such as you."

"A man such as me has no need for shinobi. My army crushed all opposition so far without any trouble."

"But your army has not faced ninjas yet. Our services usually cost quite a bit, but just to show our good intentions I am willing to share a bit of information for free. You see the feudal army is not beyond using ninjas for support and Konoha did provide shinobi. You will face people like us tomorrow and to fight a ninja you need to either be a ninja or employ a ninja."

"You give yourselves too much credit. Ninjas are little more than fancy, flashy tricks. If the feudal army wants to rely on people of your profession, so be it, it won't make any difference."

"I see, so that is your opinion. Well, opinions can change, just like everything else. We will leave for now." The ninja said with a smirk and spun around. A moment later the ninjas disappeared and nobody around even noticed when they actually left.

"Annoying tricksters. Next time cut off their feet and thrown them out to die instead of wasting my time." Kinhuo went back to his tent in a foul mood. The rogue ninjas in the mean time assembled in the woods not far from the rebel army.

"So, what now, Zhin?" the tall muscle covered man asked looking annoyed.

"Yes, yes. When will we have blood to spill, spill and screams to hear, hear." The maniacal one skipped on one spot giving everyone a wicked toothy grin that could make children have nightmares.

"Patience. I expected such an answer from a man of such arrogance. Let him see for himself what shinobi can do and after tomorrow he will be begging us to help him."

"And if he wins?" the nearly identical man and woman spoke in perfect unison.

"Then we take him out and sell his head to the feudal lord. I am sure he will be generous. We will do this anyway."

"So, we get paid a nice sum anyway? I like it." The large man nodded.

"Yes. Tomorrow we will also have a chance to observe those Konoha ninjas in battle. It will not hurt to know how good they actually are."

"Hah, from what I gather they are mostly just brats. Aren't even worth the effort."

"Brats scream loud, loud!"

"Ughh." The lookalikes rubbed their faces.

…

"Form up ranks! Spears in the front! Archers take position in the back! Quickly, quickly, that rebel scum won't wait for you to prepare!"

The huge masses of people moved following the orders of the officers that were busy organizing the ashigaru in battle formation in accordance with the battle plan. Proper discipline was the key, it was what allowed to effectively operate such large masses of people without it turning into pure chaos. The Konoha ninjas were also preparing.

Asuma was in the back. Being the most experienced and skilled shinobi present he was expected to hold back until the critical moment. He also fought many battles and his experience would prove invaluable in order to command the troops. Naruto was among the ashigaru in the front lines. His clones were expected to soak up as much damage as possible. He was also the only genin present who prbbly had enough stamina to last through out the battle without pulling back. Sasuke was among the professional samurai that were held back as a strategic reserve. Toero and Tenten were among the archers. Sakura, Hinata and Shino were formed into a specialized unit with a very important task.

"You can almost cut the tension." Tenten muttered. The soldiers were visibly nervous. You could see the rebel army forming up on the other side of the river and it was clear that they greatly outnumbered the feudal force holding the bridge.

On the other end Kinhuo observed the opposing army with a confident smile. He rode forward and looked back at his men. He knew that the sheer size of his army was enough to make the feudal soldier tremble in fear. He liked he, he practically fed on it, it was intoxicating.

"You know what I see there, on the other side of this bridge? I see cowards. Smell the air, it is filled with the stench of fear! They know that today we will crush them, that will cut them down and show them our strength!"

The rebels released a cheer waving their weapons in approval. They were confident and right now could safely express their belief in their victory. They were a safe distance away and their bravado was like a crude but effective psychological attack against the feudal forces. In the heat of battle there was no time for fear, it was either kill or be killed, but right now Kinhuo did all he could to break the morale of the feudal soldiers.

Suddenly Kinhou's mount raised on hind legs and fell over, throwing the rebel leader out of the saddle. Kinhou rolled on the ground and got up quickly, trying to understand what happened. He looked at the horse and saw that it was killed by a long white arrow that went straight through the neck.

"But we aren't close enough." The rebel leader muttered in disbelief and took a careful step back. He barely reacted jumping away when he saw another arrow appear, this one flew by nearly striking the rebel leader, but instead it went into the chest of a nearby rebel swordsman that fell down to his knees and then fell face down. No longer the rebels cheered, instead most looked confused. Until Kinhuo raised his sword.

"Charge!"

With a mighty roar the first wave of the rebel army charge across the bridge. Such an enormous mass of people, it seemed impossible to stop such a force moving towards you with the intent to kill.

"Draw!" Toero raised his bow once more pulling back the string and this time the feudal archers did the same following his instruction through he wasn't officially in charge. Toero knew the range of a regular bow and was waiting for the rebel forces to cross the invisible line.

"Release!"

For a moment the arrows blocked out the sun before they began to rain down on the rebels. Nearly every arrow found a target in the tight mass of bodies. Many were killed, even more were wounded, but the mass of rebel soldiers kept coming.

"Release!" another volley raised into the air, this time even more destructive than the first.

"Fire at will!"

Arrows were like raindrops as they showered the rebels. It was a never-ending stream of death. The numerous bodies that now littered the middle of the bridge slowed down the advance of the rebel forces, many wounded were crushed to death by the stampede of their own allies. Many were pushed over the railing, falling into the cold water that claimed their lives.

"My turn, give me a boost!" Tenten reacher out for her scrolls and took a running start. Toero turned around and lowered his bow. A moment later Tenten jumped, landing on the shaft of the bow. Every other weapon would've broken instantly under the weight of a person, but Toero's weapon didn't even bend. Instead the archer used it to propel the weapon mistress high into the air, where she unrolled her scrolls, forcing dozens of large shuriken to appear. Without any hesitation they were sent at the advancing rebels, many of whom raised their heads in surprise, but Tenten wasn't finished. She wasn't a chakra maniac like Naruto and could perform this jutsu on a couple of times a day, but right now it would be well worth it.

"Shadown shuriken no jutsu!"

Dozens of large shuriken multiplied into about a hundred and practically wiped out the front rows of the rebels, the large spinning masses of metal cleaving through the ranks like knife through butter, severing limbs and sometimes cutting people in half without stopping. It was pure carnage and blood already flowed in rivers raining down from the bridge and staining the waters of the river red.

The much weakened waved of the rebels smashed into the front ranks of the feudal ashigaru, many getting impaled by the spears. Now it wasn't just screams, but also sounds of metal clashing against metal, or slicing through the flesh.

"Get back, bastard!" Naruto blocked a slash by a kunai and then kicked the rebel swordsman away. He clones were all over the places, often taking the hits for the feudal soldiers and providing the allied fighters with a good opening. One after another the clones disappeared in trademark puffs of smoke, but now before causing some damage. Naruto didn't look impressive, but his punches and kicks were strong enough to break bones like some twigs and he proved fast and elusive. Still soon enough his outfit supported quite a few holes and he had several cuts, mostly on his arms, but in the heat of battle nobody noticed how fast they healed. Where one would already be on the ground unable to move a finger from exhaustion, Naruto was only beginning to show signs of fatigue. Despite the best efforts the feudal forces were getting pushed back as Kinhou kept sending wave after a wave of his fighters into battle. It seemed that the rebels were mere moments away from breaking through, they practically tasted victory, until another force joined the battle.

The samurai were few in numbers, but they were fighters from birth, people who honed their skills with the blade for many years and they now showed their prowess. No blade was as feared and as respected as a katara. Forged by true masters this blade was as beautiful as it was deadly. It was a breathtaking sigh, watching a master becoming one with his weapon, the blade moving through the air in wide graceful arcs, slicing through the flesh with any visible effort like it was air. But a ninja used a sword not like a samurai and there was no better way to see it, than watching a ninja swordman fighting alongside a samurai. Sasuke's moves were a complex combination of slashes, kicks, punches and throws, each setting up room for the next, as the Uchiha sliced through the ranks of the rebels. His sharingan allowed him to dodge with ease and strike without missing. To many his figure was reduced to a blur that left behind only dead or wounded, who screamed in agony.

"Back!" Sasuke grabbed some samurai by his armor and pulled the grown man back like his was a little kid, saving him from getting disemboweled. That for a moment left Sasuke open with half a dozen rebels launching towards him in order cut down the deadly ninja.

"Fire style: Fireball jutsu!"

No element was as feared as fire. It didn't just kill, it killed slowly and painfully. The smell of the burning flesh was disgusting, but Sasuke without any remorse launched another fireball that had a no less dramatic effect.

"Care for some company, teme?" Naruto spoke while shielding Sasuke's back from any possible attacks.

"Hn." Sasuke nodded while wiping blood off his face an unpleasant taste of iron filling his mouth.

"Faster, guys, I can't keep up this illusion forever." Sakura whispered. She was standing upside down listening how hundreds of men rushed across the bridge above her. Shino and Hinata were busy setting up explosive tags in weak spots that Hinata located using her byakugan. Every crack or work out support beam were targeted in a way to collapsed a small section of the bridge. Blowing it up completely was out of the question as the feudal army would need it, but making a gap small enough to be easily repaired, but wide enough to be impossible to jump over by a regular person, that was another story. The main problem were the rebel archers stationed on the shore. They couldn't actively participate in the battle, but none of the genin fancied completing their delicate mission under a hail of arrows, so Sakura used her illusionary skills to provide them with cover.

"We are almost done, Sakura-san." Shino said his hands working quickly setting up the tags. Hinata was a small distance away also working as quickly as her abilities allowed her.

"I am running …. out of chakra." The illusion Sakura was using was simple because it was designed to hide, a task far simpler than actually attacking by the means of an illusion. On the other hand it was designed to not only hide the ninjas visually, but also to cover the noise they were making or the sound of speech. It came at a cost, as Sakura had to pour her chakra into a jutsu in a steady stream. At first it seemed easy, but eventually the strain began to show. Sakura felt how her control over the chakra in her feet was slipping as she struggled to keep defying the laws of gravity.

"Last one!" Hinata called out and just them Sakura finally felt she could no longer keep up. The illusion disappeared and she began falling down feeling completely exhausted.

"I got her!" Shino kicked off the bridge and caught up to Sakura in mid air. He landed on the water surface holding the girl bridal style. Unfortunately the rebels noticed them and fired a volley of arrows.

"Dive!" Hinata yelled and disappeared under the surface. Shino simply released the chakra flow instantly falling into the water. The arrows flew by harmlessly, but when the genin surfaced they saw that another volley was fired at them.

"Wind style: Great breakthrough!"

A powerful blast of wind easily blew the volley of arrows away. It actually was strong enough to reach the rebel archers, knocking several men off their feet.

"Quickly now." Asuma Pulled Sakura out of the water and then Shino also climbed up to the surface along with Hinata. The young Hyuga then made a handseal and detonated the tags. The whole bridge shook when the tags exploded starting a chain reaction.

"Move!" Asuma yelled. The section of the bridge collapsed and the ninjas barely avoided getting hit by the falling pieces of stone. Luckily the explosion drew all the attention away from them, allowing them to safely get out of the range of the rebel archers.

"Get her to the shore. You did well." Asuma handed Sakura back to Shino and ran up one of the support columns to get to the bridge. The explosion had cut off part of the rebel forces from their main army. This meant that those trapped between the feudal forces and the collapsed section now faced total annihilation. All the fighting actually stopped for a moment and after a gruesome battle silence raised over the battlefield. Shock, fear and panic was beginning to show on the faces of the cut off rebel troops.

"Heh. What is this?" the rebels saw how smoke began to appear under their feet, spreading like some sort of a strange fog.

"Smells strange."

"This must be some other trick of those ninjas." Someone yelled in panic.

"Surprisingly, you are right. Sadly that will not help you." Asuma pulled out his cigarette looking over it curiously. Somehow everyone present was looking at him waiting for his next move. Asuma raised his head after a second and then tossed the still lit cigarette forward. The moment it touched the smoke the area turned into a blazing inferno.


	45. Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Kinhuo was enraged. He fully understood that his forces fell into a trap that had cost him more casualties that the whole campaign so far. To make matters worse the defeat demoralized the rebel forces who were more used to easy victories and pillaging than actual heavy combat. Kinhuo's command over them depended on his ability to provide them with riches and easy enough life. Facing a determined enemy who was willing to stand to the last man was not what most of the mercenaries signed up for. But worst of all were the shinobi. His men were terrified of having to face those deadly warriors again. They seemed unstoppable.

"I found incredible pleasure in watching your men getting sliced to bits. Quite a spectacle."

"You." Kinjuo spun around recognizing the rogue ninja who somehow appeared in his tent. "How did you get here?"

"I am a ninja, getting past your would be soldiers was about as easy as walking down the street. Last time I was merely polite."

"What do you want?"

"It is not what I want, but what I can offer. I suspect that by now you wouldn't mind getting rid of those leaf ninjas and once again I am willing to offer my services, but this time, the price is higher."

"You can guarantee that those ninjas will die?"

"I can guarantee that those ninjas will stop bothering you one way or another. All you need to do is pay us."

"So, you want gold? Fine, I can provide that, just do what you have to and don't dare cross me or I will see you and your team of outcasts dead."

"An empty threat." The ninja laughed and then disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the rebel leader alone, hoping that he made the right choice. But right now he was getting desperate and even though hiring rogue ninjas left a bad taste in his mouth, his choices were fairly limited.

….

Naruto winced from the unpleasant sound as Sasuke kept sharpening his sword. The young Uchiha seemed perfectly content with it, but his teammate was reminded of an unpleasant sound when one slid his fingernails along the glass.

"Can you stop doing that, it is sharp already."

"No." Sasuke didn't look up, but instead slid the sharpening stone along the deadly blade. The feudal camp was silent as most soldiers were fast asleep after celebrating their victory. Not surprisingly Toero simply stated that he would look out for trouble and basically disappeared in the shadows of the night. Asuma was with the commander of the feudal forces, who was very pleased with the performance of the ninja team, whose help saved many of his men.

"Finally, done." Tenten resealed the last of her weapons into her scrolls. After the battle she was forced to walk around the surface of the bridge to gather those and since it was littered with numerous bodies, it wasn't a very pleasant experience. Also some of her larger shuriken got stuck in the bodies of the dead rebels and pulling them out was a disgusting procedure often involving the need to further mutilate the bodies.

"Doesn't that noise annoy you?" Naruto turned to the weapon mistress after turning towards Sasuke.

"Hmm? No, not really, I do that all the time, so I am kind of used to it."

"We are back." Sakura skipped over to the fire, followed by Shino and Hinata. After their little swim in the river they had to exchange clothes and leave the wet ones out to dry. Obviously they all had spares, but neither Hinata nor Shino brought spares for their jacket or coat.

"I can't believe how many holes there is now. I might as well throw it out once we get back." Naruto held up his orange jacket. For the last two hours he was busy sewing up the numerous holes and despite the seemingly hopeless goal he did a very good job so far. Sakura was a bit surprised that Naruto knew how to sew, but then remembered that his was an orphan and for that reason had to know how to fix his clothes. Sure, his work wasn't very neat, but clearly would hold.

"Well, I sure won't cry for the thing, maybe you will buy something that doesn't make you a target."

"Orange is awesome."

"Orange is too bright." Sakura frowned when Naruto once again began to defend his choice of clothing.

"You are the one to speak, you have pink hair." Naruto objected.

"I don't choose what my hair color is, what do you want me to do about it?"

"Shave it off." Sasuke offered and Sakura wasn't sure if he was kidding.

"Not the best idea, teme. I won't be able to help but stare at her bald." Naruto smirked getting back to work.

"Sasuke-kun, please, don't make such suggestions." Sakura shielded her hair as the Uchiha once more carefully slid the sharpening stone along the blade.

"Hn."

"Your reply was not very informative." Shino stated.

"Don't worry, that was his 'whatever' hn." Naruto replied. "There are also the 'I don't care' and 'I am going home' kinds. You get used to that."

"Your team dynamics are ….. complex."

"B-but isn't it nice t-that despite being s-so different they can get along?" Hinata offered stuttering slightly.

"Our cooperation is the key to our strength. We must be strong to succeed." Sasuke said, surprising some of those present. In the academy the young Uchiha seemed to be more of a loner, but apparently he was more or less attached to his new teammates. "I've learned that even the strongest ninjas have to rely on assistance to achieve their goals as it provides far better chances for success than individual effort."

"I find you point of view logical and worth respect." Shino nodded. Sakura in the meant time was throwing glances at Hinata. Since the young Hyuga for once was missing her jacket, Sakura noticed that her figure was far more developed than her own. That made Sakura worry that Sasuke would notice that also and who knew, maybe the Uchiha was into curvy girls, it was possible. At the same time Sakura wondered why Hinata was wearing that oversized jacket most of the time, but perhaps it had something to do with the strict moral code of the Hyuga clan coupled with Hinata's natural shyness.

"Scatter!" Toero suddenly appeared in the middle of the group grabbing Hinata and Shino, before jumping away. Team 7 moved away on their own, already quite used to carrying out his orders without a second through, while Tenten had her reactions honed by training with Lee and Gai.

"Damn!" Naruto flipped in mid air when the blast wave caught up with him. Their camp was blasted to pieces when several kunai with explosive tags landed in the middle of their campfire.

"They avoided it." A tall muscle covered man appeared, his bare torso showing off his impressive physique.

"Boom was loud, loud, but enemies skip, skip away."

There was another, quite crazy looking person who skipped on one leg while laughing.

"Then we can some fun …. "

" … while Zhin takes care of that jounin." Two more people appeared and by the looks of it they were related.

"If you think we are some pushovers, think again." Naruto snarled. He was pissed, especially considering that he spent hours working on his jacket that now was blown to bits.

"Ohh, the kid has some spunk. I will crush you." The large man charged at Naruto, but was forced to go into a roll to avoid an arrow that nearly went through his neck.

"Are you going to shoot toothpicks at me in hopes of injuring me? Pathetic. A real warrior kills the enemy with his bare hands. I will show that to you when I grind your bones to dust with my fists."

Toero didn't answer, instead retreating towards the tree line, luring the large man away. Obviously he would have to take on that opponent in a one on one fight.

"Aburame, Haruno, help me with the weirdo." Tenten commanded being the one left in charge due to her rank.

"No offence, but Lee is weird too, so calling someone … " Sakura began, but Tenten loked at her with a frown.

"Lee is passionate weird and that …. thing is crazy weird."

"Yay, kill, kill, blood will spill, spill, bone will snap, snap, Rimuzo will be glad, glad."

"I see what you mean." Sakura sweatdropped.

"Theт we handle those two." Sasuke pointed at the lookalikes with his sword with Naruto and Hinata flanking him. They knew that if Asuma was also attacked, it meant that the feudal army was concentrated on that one attack and that meant that no help would come. For now they had to rely on their own abilities.

….

"Just stand there and take it." The powerful punch smashed into the tree trunk easily taking out a good piece, but ultimately it completely missed the target. Toero ran up the tree and then kicked off the trunk, sailing through the air.

"Hmpf." The large man leaned to the side to avoid another arrow, but when he looked up again, his target was nowhere in sight.

"Hiding? Is that your way of fighting?"

There was no answer, the darkness of night making the forested area into a playground for those who knew how to hide and move silently. Another arrow sailed through the air, but once again it was dodged, the tall man despite his impressive bulk was reasonably fast and had impressive reactions even when attack from an uncomfortable angle. For what it seemed he was a man who relied on pure physical strength, brute force to take down his opponents. There was nothing elegant about such fighting methods, but they could be devastatingly effective. Of course no amount of training could make you strong enough to replicate the effects of Tsunade's strength, but then again, her techniques were more based on chakra control, her ability to concentrate and release chakra accurately. That meant that in a prolonged fight Tsunade could eventually deplete her chakra, but this man was limited only to his stamina, which most would allow him to fight for days. This was not an opponent Toero could outlast.

"So, you want to hide, eh? Fine, lets see for how long will you be able to hide from me. Fire style: seeker flames!"

The tall man spat out over a dozen of small fireballs, but unlike any kind of fire attacks these fireballs slowly sailed through the air, avoiding trees as they spread through the area. Their purpose was clear, they illuminated the area in order to help their creator find his target. This meant that even though the tall man was a taijutsu user, he was not beyond the use of ninjutsu to nullify the disadvantages of his fighting style. Apparently he was also a fire element user. Fire could provide many offensive abilities, but it was fairly limited as a defense.

"Ahah!" Toero flipped from a branch when his opponent launched himself forward after noticing a glimpse of a shadow. "There is no escaping me now!"

The flames now formed a wide circle around them, creating a zone of light that made hiding nearly impossible. Toero retreated, dodging a punch after a punch. The man clearly favored using his hands to attack. The archer quickly pulled his bow away, instead doing all he could to avoid getting hit.

"You are an elusive little insect." The man growled when his fist sank up to his elbow into the soft ground after Toero narrowly avoided getting hit. With a roar the man pulled his hand out and charged again. The attacks seemed to repeat themselves until suddenly the man waved his hand and one of the fireballs launched towards Toero.

Toero glanced at his slightly burned sleeve and the mild burn on the skin after he barely reacted to the unexpected attack. The fireball not only was launched at him, but it visibly changed it's trajectory in order to hit the target, but instead slammed into a tree that instantly caught fire.

"Did you think those flames are just for show? Why so silent? Most usually either mock their opponents or beg for mercy. So, what will it be?"

Once again Toero remained silent. He looked around, there was a total of fourteen fireballs left. Not a number he was comfortable with. It wasn't an easy situation, but not a hopeless one. Toero tilted his head slightly and then suddenly moved towards his opponent who immediately sent two more fireballs at him. One missed, but then turned around, moving after the target, while the second slammed into the ground, creating a circle of burning ground.

"Raggh!" the tall man swung his massive fist aiming to strike Toero in the face, but the archer went into a slide, the strike passing inches away from his head.

"Damn!" the man immediately formed a seal, putting out the fireball that was still sailing after Toero and by the looks of it, it wasn't going to stop even if it meant burning it's own creator. Unfortunately all that effort meant that there was still twelve fireballs left, but Toero wasn't about to go around dancing like that.

"Huh?" the tall man looked down, but before he understood what was going on one of Toero's modified smoke bombs detonated right under his feet. The archer left it there as he slid past his opponent.

"Bastard!" The man jumped out of the smoke coughing and unable to see clearly. He would not be able to actively attack in this state, so with an angry roar he sent all the remaining fireballs at Toero, who spun around and went running away, jumping from side to side in order to avoid becoming a pile of freshly cooked meat. His opponent followed, but he was busy rubbing his eyes to regain his sight as all he could see right now was blurry images and lights moving away.

Toero jumped to the side, rolled forward and jumped towards a tree only to kick away from it. The fireballs made him use all of his abilities to avoid getting hit. Several times he felt the scorching heat as the fireballs passed close enough to slightly burn his clothes.

"Where is he going?" the tall man moved forward in order to not loose his target until he saw something glimmering in the distance. With some surprise he understood that the archer lured him all the way to the river and by the time he got to the shore the archer was already running on it's calm surface with fireballs nearly upon him.

"Yes, just a little more ….. huh?"

Toero suddenly released the chakra and instantly disappeared under the surface of the water, with fireballs harmlessly sailing over his head. The tall man raised his hands, commanding his creations not to follow. If this was some pathetic idea to extinguish the fireballs by luring them to the water, then that plan obviously failed. All that had to be done right now is wait until the lack of oxygen would force the archer to resurface. The fire illuminated the surface of the river, so getting out of the water unseen would be impossible.

The tall man allowed himself a small smirk despite the burning in his eyes and throat. Without any doubt he had already won. His smiled was wiped off though, when the surface of the water suddenly exploded from some kind of large detonation under the surface. The created blast of water easily wiped out the fireball, while the created wave knocked the tall man over after reaching the shore.

Toero climbed out to the shore coughing out water after getting slammed into the bottom of the river by the blast wave. It took half of his supply of explosive tags to create a blast he was sure would wipe out his little fire problem. Still, hiding and using the stealth approach was a tactic Toero could no longer employ as that would mean the risk of facing the same jutsu again. Instead quickly rushed towards his opponent, who was getting up.

"Little pest. Fire style: seeker …. Hmppf?" Toero's hand grabbed the fingers not slowing the man to finish the handseals for the jutsu. Without another word Toero simply headbutted his foe, the impact sending them both stumbling back. The blow broke the skin on Toero's foreheard, but by the looks of it that was all the damage he had suffered. Since his opponent was taller, the strike caught him in the mouth and now the tall man had to spit out blood along with a piece of his own tooth.

"How dare you. I am Zhukoru the skull crasher. I will break you, destroy you. I will make sure they won't even be able to identify you!" Zhukoru attacked with fury, his punched fueled by the anger and pain. His attacks once more forced his foe to retreat, but finally Zhukoru found an opening, slamming Toero's hands away. With a triumphant yell his large palms wrapped around Toero's head and began to squeeze.

"I will watch your brain start pouring out of your ears until your skull explodes." Zhukoru saw Toero grab his wrists in a seemingly useless attempt to save himself. But then the tall man noticed that despite all his effort he wasn't getting anywhere, his opponent as it seemed wasn't even in pain. How was he supposed to know that Toero skull just like the rest of his skeleton was made up of bones that could withstand incredible amounts of force without breaking.

"Aghhh!" Zhukohu screamed in pain when to bone spikes pierced both his wrists, forcing him to let go of his foe.

"What …. what is this?"

His question remained without answer, but he had the pleasure of watching how to puncture wounds in Toero's palms sealed up right before his eyes. Terror appeared in Zhukoru's eyes as he stumbled back and then began to run. For the time being it seemed as if his opponent wasn't following, but then an arrow hit the retreating man in his thigh, forcing him to turn around, only to witness another arrow coming, hitting him in the eye and coming out from the back of the head. For a few seconds the already dead man kept standing, but then fell down and rolled over towards the water.

"Too much talking." Toero massaged his scalp and then ran off back towards the forest.


	46. Chapter 46

Chapter 46

"Be careful, we have no idea who are we facing and what that weirdo is capable of." Tenten carefully pulled out one of her scrolls not taking her eyes off their strange opponent, who at the moment was playfully skipping on one leg and laughing as a child half expecting to get a new toy.

"Lets see if I will be able to make reveal some of the abilities." Shino raised his hands and his bugs bean to rise into the air crawling out of his sleeves.

"Oh. Fun, fun! Rimuzo like, like!" the weird ninja skipped out of the way avoiding a cloud of bug and soon was avoiding wave after a wave of insects while laughing. It seemed that she didn't even feel threatened by the attacks, but one things was evident, that seemingly insane person had incredible speed and agility to move like that. Further more her movements seemed unpredictable, irrational, yet somehow very effective.

"I can't catch her." Shino stated his expression as unreadable as always. Despite his best efforts he simply couldn't pin down his opponent. Not only were her moves unrthodox, she was also constatly shifting the rythm of her moves.

"Lets see her dodge these!" Tenten unsealed three large shuriken and hurled those at the opponent.

"Yes, spin, spin!" Rimuzo leaned to the side avoiding the first shuriken, flipped over the second one and snatched the third one out of mid air. "A make them bleed, bleed."

It seemed that Sakura didn't react when the giant shuriken sailed right towards her, but the moment she was hit, she was replaced by a piece of wood that was cleanly cut in half, a clear proof of the devastating power of the weapon.

"Very fast reaction time." Sakura appeared behind Tenten after her narrow escape.

"We need to get her disoriented in order for any of our attacks to succeed." Tenten said. "Sakura, can you do something about that."

"I'll try. Give me a moment."

"I am not sure we have a moment." Shino frowned. The enemy rolled under a wave of his bugs and jumped forward, covering the remaining distance in one leap. Shino began pulling back, but before he understood what happened Rimuzo grabbed the collar of his coat and threw him away. She did it without showing any strain, but when Shino landed he exploded in a cloud of insects, proving to be a bug clone.

"Sneaky, sneaky." Rimuzo dodged a barrage of kunai from Tenten, while a huge wave insects was going after her. She then jumped up, flipping in mid air and flashed through several seals.

"Ninja art: toxic breath!" a stream of dark green gas covered the area between Rimuzo and Shino and a moment later his begs began falling down dead, covering the ground.

"What?" Shino took a careful step back. He had just lost one third of his hive. Considering the fighting style it was unusual for them to lose substantial amounts of their uncommon fighting partners, further more it would now take time for his colony to recover from such losses.

"A little ninja sad, sad?" Rimuzo laughed and suddenly jumped forward again. Shino received a kick to his chest, that sent him rolling on the ground.

"Time to bleed, bleed." Rimuzo pulled out a kunai.

"Then bleed yourself!" Sakura slid on the ground knocking Rimuzo over, but the crazy ninja easily jumped up aiming a slash at Sakura's throat. To her surprise the pink haired kunoichi managed to dodged the strike, grab her opponents wrist and twist it, pulling the blade away.

"Sakura get away!" Tenten released a barrage of shuriken from one of her scrolls.

"No, no, you stay, stay!" Rimuzo didn't allow Sakura to jump away, instead easily ripping her hand out of Sakura's grip and pulling the girl forward, using her as a human shield.

"Ghmppf!" Sakura gasped when her chest got filled with shuriken.

"Oh yes, bleed, bleed!" Rimuzo laughed. "Blood will flow, flow and …. Ghhh!" Rimuzo's head shot back when it met with an elbow.

"Yeah, about bleeding, not today." Sakura turned around the shuriken harmlessly falling to the ground without any sign of wounds. Even Sakura's dress wasn't torn and for the first time Rimuzo's face show something that could be described as surprise. She still reacted when Sakura attacked, blocking two kicks and a punch and then ducked under a strike. The kunai sailed in a wide arc and Sakura stumbled back when the blade sliced right through her neck.

"Not working." Sakura shook her head, not a wound visible on her flesh.

"Why you not bleed, bleed? I want to hear you scream, scre ….. !" Rimuzo wasn't allowed to finish when a solid metal staff sailed over her head.

"Oh, shut up!" Tenten swirled her weapon around and knocked at kunai out of Rimuzo's hand.

"Aghhh!" the crazy ninja stumbled back when a cloud of insects began to swirl around her head, blocking her view. Rimuzo waved her hands and then doubled over when Tenten rammed her staff into her gut.

"Raaghh!" Rimuzo blindly pounced in the general direction of her opponent, but missed, instead receiving a blow to the back of her head.

"Ninja art: toxic breath!" Rimuzo covered herself with the poisonous smoke, forcing Tenten to jump away in order to avoid inhaling the potetially lethal gas.

"Think she killed herself?" Sakura approached looking a bit tired. Her genjutsu allowed her to trick Rimuzo for a short while. When Rimuzo though Sakura was hit, actually she was completely unharmed, instead using the opportunities to confuse her opponents and observe her. Unfortunately she had to constantly adapt that genjutsu to the constantly shifting situation in battle. That meant that every time something had to be changed the genjutsu took a portion out of her reserves.

"I don't know, I hope so, that ninja creeps me out." Tenten sealed up her staff looking into the thick dark green smoke, trying to see what was going on inside. "I think I saw something when I knocked a kunai out of her hand. You noticed?"

"Yeah, puncture wounds, from a needle, but not from senbon." Sakura agreed.

"Right."

"I can confirm that. My bugs managed to bite her several times and sample her chakra. It seemed unnaturally potent." Shino said, while several dozen of his insects were flying around the gas cloud.

"Smart, smart, little ninjas." Rimuzo slowly walked out of the cloud, but something was different. Even though she looked as maniacal as before, she wasn't constantly skipped, instead she seemed almost calm. "Fighting you is fun, fun, but I don't like pain, pain, so you I shall kill, kill!" Rimuzo reached for something in her pouch and pulled out a syringe filled with with some kind of light blue substance.

"She is using drug of some sort." Sakura realized. "That is why she is so fast and strong."

"And that is why you will all die, die!" Rimuzo shivered as she gave herself a shot and a moment later she launched forward. If anything she was even faster than before and Sakura was the first to feel it as despite blocking the kick, she was still launched back.

"Die, die!" Rimuzo threw a handful of senbons at the prone kunoichi, but before they reached her, all were knocked out by a barrage of shuriken from Tenten, who then jumped into the air unsealing a large variety of weapons that she began to throw at Rimuzo, but despite her best efforts the crazed ninja kept dodging, dancing and jumping without getting even a cut.

"Hmm?" Rimuzo felt something shift under her foot and before she knew it, shewas flipped onto her back, but a group of Shino's bugs, hiding in the grass. Rimuzo rolled to the side, avoiding a javelin, but then a kunai caught her in the shoulder, followed by two shuriken in the thigh, before she finally managed to jump away.

"Her senbon, poison." Sakura sniffed the needles that had nearly hit her. "Most likely the same kind she uses in her jutsu, just this one is in liquid form."

"Then how come she herself is affected." Tenten asked watching how Rimuzo pulled out a kunai without showing any sign of pain.

"Two possibilities." Shino frowned. "Either her drug contains the antidote, or she had built up tolerance for the stuff. "I also think we can safely assume that the effects of that drug are temporary, most likely linked to the amount of chakra she uses."

"It somehow intensifies the chakra flow and makes chakra more potent. She uses that to boost her physical performance. She is sick." Sakura nodded.

"That doesn't make our job any easier, we can't outlast her, we have no idea how many more doses of that stuff she has on herself." Tenten shook her head.

"Scared, scared, kids? You don't know how to handle, power, power?" Rimuzo chuckled and then laughed.

"Your power if fake." Shino stated.

"Power is power, it is good, good. I don't care where it comes from, from. I just want to have fun, fun!" Rimuzo laughed loudly despite bleeding from her wounds. "And you three are very, very fun."

"Sakure, try to give me another opening, Shino, make sure she doesn't get to Sakura." Tenten ordered, while pulling out a handful of kunai.

"Come, come!" Rimuzo waved, taunting Tenten who immediately threw her weapons. The crazed ninja dropped down, avoiding them easily and then pushed off the ground with all her limbs, propelling herself high into the air.

"Aghh!" Rimuzo was forced to close her eyes when bright light blinded her. For a second she wondered where it came from, but realized it was another genjutsu. If anything the pink haired girl was good at making things difficult as one couldn't fight as effectively as he usually did when he couldn't trust his senses.

"Release!" the light disappeared, but when it did Rimuzo found herself in mid air with several large shuriken coming her way, each large enough to cleave her in half.

"There is no escaping that." Tenten smirked, but before her eyes Rimuzo disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Substitution!" Shino explained when he saw Tenten's weapons slice up a log.

"Right, right." Rimuzo appeared from behind Shino, who rolled forward on pure reflex avoiding the strike, but Rimuzo quickly moved forward, grabbing his coat and pinning him to the ground.

"Off of him!" Sakura's kick connected with Rimuzo's hand, making the crazy ninja let go of Shino,who rolled to the side.

"No tricking me now, now." Rimuzo pushed Sakura away. "Release!"

Sakura felt how the genjutsu she had cast on herself and which she used so effectively before now disappeared. Her opponent acted like some maniac, but without a doubt she could analyze the situation and the fighting style of her opponents. Along with enchanted strength and speed this made her and even more dangerous opponent.

"Damn!" Sakura retreated under a barrage of strikes until Tenten came wielding her staff again. With a snarl Tenten swung her weapon, but Rimuzo simply lifter her hand, blocking the strike that should've caused her immense pain. Instead with a laugh she grabbed the weapon yanking it out of Tenten's grip and throwing it away.

"Fight, make fun, fun go on!" Rimuzo smiled wickedly and attacked again, her spend and strength enough to push back both girls without too much effort. Sakura already thanked those brutal training sessions with Toero as she had avoided quite a few strikes that would've easily cost her a broken bone or worse.

"Hmpf." Rimuzo grunted slightly as she caught both Sakura's and Tenten's kicks. With another laugh she swung both girls around and slammed them together.

"How fun, fun!" Rimuzo skipped from side to side and then leaned avoiding a single kunai thrown at her by Shino.

"No bugs, bugs?" Rimuzo looked amused when Shino charged her, but her expression changed when he raised his hand just as he was about to reach her.

"My bugs have various purposes." Shino stated and his opponent finally saw how a large group of insects dropped Tenten's staff right into his hand. Shino wasn't used to this weapon, but he the element of surprise was on his side. Even the young Aburame had to admit he licked the sound when the other end of the heavy weapon smashed into Rimuzo's jaw.

The crazy rogue nin stumbled back spitting out blood along with a few broken teeth. Still, despite such a blow she ducked under another strike and struck. Her fist seemed to pierce the young Aburame, proving him to be yet another bug clone.

"As I said, my bugs have various purposes. As a member of the Aburame clan I have to learn to use the creatively." Shino appeared behind his opponent, while the clone grabbed her hand, not allowing her to use any jutsu, especially the one that created poisonous gas.

"They will now suck you dry of any chakra."

"They will choke, choke." Rimuzo used her free hand to reach into her pouch and pull out another syringe. With a maniacal scream she gave herself another shot just as Shino's bugs began to cover her. For a moment it seemed like it was all over, but unfortunately it wasn't.

The young Aburame was blown off his feet while his bugs were scattered, Rimuzo now emitted enough chakra for it to be visible, while the veins all over her body bulged.

"She gave herself another dose. She will be even stronger now." Tenten got up with a ground.

"But look, that clearly strains her body." Sakura said as Rimuzo howled clearly being in pain. It was a strange mix of maniacal laughter and pain filled screams that now sailed through the air. Rimuzo took a step forward, no longer speaking in her unusual way, but her target was clear. She was about to attack.

"A plan?" Sakura asked.

"I don't kn … "Tenten was blown off her feet before she could even say anything. Rimuzo moved so fast she was but a blur. She picked up Tenten and bent it, breaking the bones. She then lifted the weapon mistress and slammed her into the ground several times.

"Tenten!" Sakura rushed to help, but Rimuzo immediately switched her attention and pounced, knocking the girl to the ground hard. Shino didn't even have a chance to do anything before Sakura slammed into him after getting tossed by the enraged Rimuzo.

"I feel pain, pain, but yours will stop soon, because you will die, die!" Rimuzo moved towards Shino and Sakura, both of whom were on the ground, dazed.

"Hey, forget … me?" Rimuzo turned around when she heard Tenten from behind. The weapon mistress didn't look good, onw of her hands was hanging limp, bruises covering her face and her hair no longer being styles in the usual two buns on her head. But she was standing and that meant that she wasn't yet defeated.

"What, can't finish the job?"

"Brave, brave, but stupid, stupid." Rimuzo moved towards the helpless kunoichi and grabbed her by the neck, lifting off the ground. "Said, bye bye?"

"Bye." Tenten smirked and with whatever strength she could muster rammed something into Rimuzo's chest with her only working hand.

"No, no!" Rimuzo stumbled back recognizing one of her syringes. "What have you done, done?"

The effects were clear. The crazy ninja fell to the ground screaming in agony as her body began emitting so much chakra that the grass under her got burned away. She howled, unable to speak as he body trashed. It was a horrible sight, especially when Rimuzo began to bleed out of her eyes and ears, her body unable to handle the increased blood pressure. Finally her back arched, releasing a final pulse of chakra and the crazy kunoichi slumped down limply.

"Tenten, you alright?" Sakura rushed to her friend, while Shino carefully made sure that Rimuzo was dead. It didn't take an expert to confirm it.

"I …. " Tenten opened her mouth, but then simply fell face down.

"Tenten!"

"Carefully, we don't know if she suffered any internal injuries." Shino approached, carefully turning Tenten over and checking if her life signs were stable. Fortunately Tenten was breathing steadily and most likely it was fortunate that she passed out, judging by the nasty break she suffered.

"Is that freak dead?"

"Yes. It seems her body was unable to withstand the overdose of that drug she used. I wonder if her mental state was caused by the constant use of that substance."

"I don't care right now, lets get Tenten to a safe place and go see if others need help."

"I agree. I'll carry her."

"Thanks. Careful with her hand."

"Don't worry, I will try not to aggravate her injuries. Sakura-san, please take the remaining syringes with the drug from the corpse of our opponent, I suspect it will have to be analyzed back at the village. IT had very unusual properties."

"I'd rather not think about it's properties if it can make a person into a maniac."

"Since it grants energy, perhaps that is the reason for a level of hyperactivity?"

"Shino, take Tenten, this is not the time for scientific theories, our first priority is to take care of our injured friend."

"Yes, you are right, excuse me. It is just that such matters occasionally intrigue me and …. "

"What was that?" Sakura looked in the direction of the river.

"Sounded like a detonation of significant magnitude."

"Must be Toero. We have to go check it out once we help Tenten. Lets go." Sakura ripped the pouch off Rimuzo's belt and followed the young Aburame.


	47. Chapter 47

Chapter 47

"This is so disappointing ….."

"….. that we have to fight these brats."

The two very similar shinobi looked over their opponents and clearly were not impressed. One couldn't really blame them. One was a timid looking girl, the other looked liked a color blind idiot, the third despite wielding a sword also didn't seem like much.

"Underestimating your foes is the worst mistake a shinobi can make." Sasuke raised his sword preparing for the fight to begin.

"Oh, a brat speaks."

"Yet makes little sense. Lets kill him, brother."

"I agree." The male stepped forward bringing down his scimitar in a wide slash that would've cleaved Sasuke in half, but the young Uchiha moved back just enough to avoid the blow and lashed out with his own strike, Metal met metal producing sparks as Sasuke's blade slid along that of his opponent.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto sent several copies at the female, who with a smirk waited for them to come while swirling her long narrow sword. Her first strike seemed to come out of nowhere, reducing a clone to several wisps of harmless smoke and then she moved forward, her weapon not stopped the graceful, yet deadly dance around her. Most of the clones were wiped out in the matter of seconds and the deadly rogue ninja made her way towards the surprised Naruto.

"Silly little ninja…. Hmm?" her sword pierced the target, but Naruto again disappeared, but this time got replaced with a relatively large piece of wood, with the sword getting stuck in it.

"Go, Hinata!" Naruto dropped from above forcing the female to block with her only free hand. With a scowl the female pushed the genin away and came face to face with the timid girl.

"Byakugan!" Hinata activated the prized bloodline of her clan, giving her a very intimidating look.

"Damn it!" the female kunoichi stumbled back after receiving a glancing blow to her arm and then swung her sword with a piece of wood still impaled upon it. Hinata barely avoided a blow, never expecting her opponent to so effortlessly swing around such weight. The byakugan provided Hinata with an ability to see nearly everything around her without the need to actually turn her head and that gave the girl the needed moment to roll away when her foe brought down the sword. The impact against the ground was strong enough to shatter the wood, freeing up the sword. She looked around and to her great annoyance saw that she was once more surrounded by over a dozen of identical orange ninjas. She looked to the side and saw that her brother was still engaged in a bitter duel with his young opponent who despite their difference in age and experience was effectively avoiding the deadly slashed.

"Hn!" Sasuke ducked under another slash, feeling how the dangerous blade moved through the air above his head. His own sword moved fast, a slash aimed for his opponents unprotected stomach, but it was blocked when the opposing ninja had put his large sword in a reverse grip. With a satisfied smirk the older ninja struck with his fist, throwing Sasuke back, but before the Uchiha landed, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Dance of the crescent moon!" Sasuke appeared from behind and there was no stopping him, but before his blow connected, it was blocked by the female ninja who in one swift motion scattered Naruto's clones that were about to attack her.

"Thanks, Miu, he is not as simple as I expected." The swordsman placed his scimitar on his shoulder while his sister pushed Sasuke away. "That is a very interesting technique you used. I remember seeing one of Konoha ninjas using it once a few years ago. Never thought someone like you could've mastered something as advanced."

"Tsk." Sasuke didn't comment, instead looking over the female. She reacted quite quickly in order to protect her brother. Almost too quickly.

"Hinata, have you noticed anything?" Sasuke called out.

"Their chakra, it feels completely the same and there is similar abnormal chakra activity around their brains. I don't know what it means." Hinata observed the duo through her bloodline.

"Same chakra?" Naruto glanced at the girl in confusion.

"All ninjas have various chakra capacity and different potency of their chakra. That allows special sensory type ninja to locate and even distinguish between individual ninjas over great distances, merely by sensing their chakra signatures. From what I understand, for a sensory ninja, these two would be identical." Sasuke frowned.

"Heh, should've figure a Hyuga would've spotted something." The female spoke with a slightly amused tone. "For a buch of brats you are quite sharp. I am Miu and ….. "

"I am Kiu." The male finished.

"We are twins."

"Kind of suspected that one already." Naruto pointed out.

"That does not explain anything. Even identical twins don't have identical chakra signatures. For that to happen you chakra network must develop as a single system form day one and … I see." Sasuke's eyes betrayed interest.

"You see? See what?" Naruto demanded.

"They are not just any twins. For a period in their lives, they were Siamese twins. They were once one organism."

"How clever." Miu narrowed her eyes. "I would applaud you, but that would be a waste of energy. Enough playing with them, brother. Lets go!"

It was one thing fighting these ninja when they fought separately, but it was an entirely different matter when they began to fight together, demonstrating a level of cooperation that seemed almost impossible for a human being.

Sasuke even with his activated sharingan managed to block only several strikes before receiving a cut on his shoulder and rough kick to the chin that threw him back with blood streaming from his mouth.

"Fire style: Fireball jutsu!" A huge ball of flame flew between Sasuke and the advancing foes. It wasn't meant to hit anyone, but it did give Sasuke enough time to at least get up and jump over to his comrades.

"I can see their moves, but can't react. The strikes seem to rain from every possible angle." Sasuke wiped the blood off his chin. "Their moves seem to be coordinated somehow, but I haven't seen them speak or interact in any way."

"Great, thanks teme, we have no idea how they are doing that, got it." Naruto ranted. "Multi shadow clone jutsu!"

The whole area was filled with Naruto's copies, creating enough targets and buying enough time for the leaf genin to figure something out. Even the rogue ninja seemed slightly surprised by the amount of clones Naruto created and for a while had to go defensive in order to thin out the horde of blonde ninjas that attacked them. The clones were of course unable to demonstrate the same level of cooperation as the twins, but still they were to a degree an extension of one mind and what they lacked in skill they could partially compensate in numbers and the sheer volume of attacks. The clones also proved capable of performing the only fire based ninjutsu in Naruto's arsenal.

"My clones won't last forever!" Naruto yelled. He kept creating clones, but even his enormous chakra reserves were not going to last log at this rate. They needed a plan.

"That chakra activity in their heads. It has to be the key. It was the only sign of any kind of jutsu being performed." Hinata guessed. "In a way it seemed similar to the mind transfer technique used by Ino-san during the chunin exams."

"Are you saying they are reading each other's thoughts?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't know, but perhaps the identical chakra allows such a feat to be performed. I mean nobody ever studied such a thing."

"Whatever, how do we stop it?" Naruto sent another squad of clones into battle only to watch them get annihilated.

"She is a Hyuga. If that technique, whatever it is, is based on chakra, it means she can disrupt it with her taijutsu style." Sasuke looked at Hinata. "Lets go, dobe, we have to give her an opening."

"Right, we are counting on you, Hinata!" Naruto smiled at her and then ran towards their opponents.

"Decided to ….. "

"….. finally face us." The twins spoke, the male finishing the line for his sister. His large curved sword made Naruto lean back to avoided getting decapitated.

"Sasuke!"

"Got it!"

The Uchiha grabbed Naruto's stretched hand and the blonde swung him around. Sasuke kicked away the female ninja's weapon and lashed out with a strike that nearly took hit her face, instead slicing off some of her hair. When Sasuke landed her swung Naruto around, tossing his teammate into the air.

"Hn." Sasuke blocked and overhead slash from the male twin, but the blow was so powerful that the young Uchiha was forced to drop down to one knee.

"Got you now!" the female struck, but to her surprise Sasuke managed to pull out a kunai with his free hand and push the blade away, getting only a mild cut on his leg.

"You forget, I can see your moves!" Sasuke glared at his opponents through his sharingan. If anything the sight of the famous bloodline was a fearsome picture.

"RASENGAN!"

Naruto dropped from the air just as Sasuke used the moment to jump away. The twins managed to move away from a direct strike, but when Naruto's jutsu struck the ground it resulted in an enormous output of chakra when the highly compressed chakra was finally released. The twins were blasted off their feet and thrown in separate directions.

"Damn that hurt!" Naruto glanced at the chakra burn on his hand, but didn't give it another thought while sliding on the ground. He pulled out two of the modified smoke bombs and a moment later a thick veil of poisonous smoke separated the twins. From Toero they knew that they had a few minutes before the smoke would disappear. That was the opening they aimed for.

"Hinata, go for the Kunoichi!" Sasuke jumped towards the male twin, once more engaging him in a bitter duel. Without his female partner to back him up the rogue ninja seemed to be evenly matched with Sasuke, who just made sure to prevent him from going to help his sister. Sasuke's katana was smaller, lighter, but it was a weapon that could cut through flesh like through air. The large weapon of his opponent granted him a superior reach, but the broad curved blade was not meant for piercing attacks. It's slashed were devastating, but Sasuke could answer with fast stabbing attacks that often were dangerous enough to force the male twin to move back. Sasuke also realized his other advantage. His weapon was lighter and much more balanced. His opponent would run out of energy far quicker, that was most likely the reason why his sister used a much faster weapon. Their fighting style when put together created a nearly unstoppable combination of speed and power. But when one element was taken away, it was a completely different story.

"Juuken!" Hinata didn't hesitate as she relentlessly attacked her foe. Perhaps the female ninja was armed, but she was also slightly dazed after getting blasted away by the blast from Naruto's rasengan. Hinata also began with a blow to the female ninja's leg, slowing her down.

"You …. !" the female rogue ninja finally showed anger as she swung her long narrow blade, but the young Hyuga twisted her body avoiding the strike and the next moment the female twin stumbled back holding her shoulder. Hinata scored a solid blow and her opponent fully realized how painful the juuken blow was and how much damage it could despite that damage often being invisible to the naked eye. But Hinata wasn't done yet. She had a clear target, she clearly saw the strange chakra activity in several chakra points in the woman's head, but seeing them and actually hitting them was a completely different task.

Only once, when facing Neji did Hinata feel like this. It was the thrill of a mortal battle, it left no room for mistakes, it was no game, it wasn't training, it wasn't a battle you could lose and hope to stay alive. At least when fighting Neji during the preliminaries she could hope for help or for mercy, but here it was even more intense. There wasn't even time to think, instead one relied on his experience and his instincts, avoiding the strikes, blocking them, dodging, creating an opening ad attacking yourself. One could describe this as a dance of death. It could be beautiful, but it was deadly and everybody knew that. When two people fought, demonstrating all of their skill, it left them oblivious to everything around. There was you and your enemy in front of you. Nothing else mattered.

Hinata didn't' know if she enjoyed this feeling, but she surely wasn't afraid of it, or disgusted by it. She was a ninja, it was in her blood, in her soul. This was a battle between ninjas and only another ninja could understand what was going in the hearts of the combatants.

"Brats should know when to stop!" The female rogue ninja stepped to the side, avoiding a palm strike and swirled her weapon until she struck, aiming to pierce Hinata throat.

"Hell no!" Naruto appeared grabbing her hand and pulling the sword away. He then kicked the female ninja under her knee, forcing her to drop down with a pained moan.

"You runt!" the kunoichi ripped her hand out of Naruto's grip, slamming the hilt of her weapon into Naruto's face, throwing him back, but the next moment her head exploded in pain. Hinata finally struck and then repeated the attacks several times, partially sealing up the chakra flow in the needed area.

"Aghhh!" the female twin swung her sword blindly and moved back in agony. Suddenly through the pain she realized something, something that never happened to her before.

"Kiu? I can't ….. What have you done!"

Hinata moved back when despite the pain her opponent attack. Her moves were now fueled by rage and pain. It was difficult to defend against her attacks as the juuken never utilized any weapons. True, the hands of a trained Hyuga could potentially be as deadly as any weapon, but it never meant that flesh could go against metal with any hope of emerging on the winning side. Hinata's natural agility, her incomplete fighting style was what allowed her to survive the initial clash. But there was no chance she would be able to hold her own for long.

"Aghh!" the Hyuga dodged a strike from a sword, but instead received a kick to the chest that knocked her over.

"_I was still too weak."_

Hinata closed her eyes, allowing the Byakugan to disappear as she saw how her foe raised the weapon for a final blow. The was no hesitation, no mercy. Hinata only hoped there would also be no pain and to her surprise, there wasn't.

"Hmm?"

Some dripped onto Hinata's cheek, something warm. She didn't know what happened, but there was only one thing she could do to find out. She carefully opened her eyes, not knowing what she would see. The first then she noticed was the tip of the sword, just a few inches away from her face. She noticed the red liquid dripping down. It rolled down the narrow blade that was sticking out of something orange.

"N-Naruto?"

Hinata looked up, realizing that Naruto had shielded her. Her was now standing over her with the blade rammed into his back all the way to the hilt.

"Naruto, I ….. "

"Please ….. don't ….. hate me."

"I don't …."

"Your eyes … strange, I never noticed …. before that they never had that ….. cold hatred in them." Naruto coughed out blow when the female ninja twisted the blade in order to pull it out, but Naruto grabbed the weapon with his bare hands, keeping it trapped within his body.

"For what ….. you will see ….. and feel ….. don't hate me."

Hinata could only nod. She had no clue, no idea what Naruto was talking about. He was injured, he could die, what on earth he could do to make her hate him. His blood was dripping on her, he was …..

Hinata's trail of thought stopped suddenly when she felt something she couldn't even describe. Naruto was still standing over her, holding the blade of the sword, his eyes closed. But something was changing, something new appeared, it grew and the feeling was getting stronger by the second. Hinata never felt anything she could even compare this feeling to. It was beyond that of a human. Without even thinking Hinata activated her byakugan.

Strange reddish chakra began to fill Naruto's system, it wasn't a usual gentle flow of chakra, it was a violent stream of powerful energy. It was like when Naruto was fighting Neji, but only now Hinata realized the terror her cousin faced. Hinata pressed herself into the ground, she was struggling to breath, her heart was beating like crazy, but somehow she knew that the aura of rage Naruto was now emitting was not directed at her. Her byakugan revealed that the female ninja behind Naruto was visibly trembling while desperately trying to pull out her weapon.

A low growl escape from Naruto's throat . His hands moved ever so slightly, but the metal weapon in his chest was snapped like a twig. The female ninja stumbled back looking in disbelief at what remained of her weapon. Before she could even say anything a pulse of chakra threw her back like some toy.

Hinata felt incapable of moving as she saw how a horrible wound in Naruto's chest began to heal so quickly that without a doubt it would disappear in a matter of seconds. But what truly shocked the girl, was Naruto's eyes when he finally opened them. The usual warm, kind blue orbs, were gone. Naruto's eyes were now red.


End file.
